Show Growth of Christian Science in England BY FREDERICK DIXON Somo years ago ngo the editor of a great groat London paper discussing the attitude he lie had adopted with regard reg-ard to Christian Science declared that ad as ns w were re his 1118 views vlot on nil all political noli social l questions que he yet remained an unregenerate generate Tory Tor in in religion on The r remarK mark markis is a b by no means unfair reflection of the tho national temperament Tho The En Eng Eug- Englishman lishman has for so 1 long g in the phrase o ot of Voltaire been Pf n permitted as 35 on one accustomed to liberty to go 0 to heaven his own way an na to bo be O 10 in danger dancer of for forgetting that what hat is termed tenne heresy has quito quite often been a n synonym for pro progress c s. s To the orthodox pa pagan m no iio less ess than to to the ortho orthodox ox Jew Paul no doubt 4 Mith Authority rity was a n pestilent fellow choir has rarely been on tho the SI side O of tho re roo re- re former forme It t has bas a constitutional foal flat of chaD change l' l and wd would rather tho i Dc Dc- c- c es of this world wand mado no no small mall gain aiD than hear boar tho rush of tho t peoples people's feet into the the tho the theater tol It is is Just JUt this conservative c clement 10 in haman hu ha- human man thou thought ht bt this innate resistance to ta change e which coupled w with tb the fact that authority and aDd reform havo have been less Jess in iD collision there than elsewhere in Europe has bas ma made n ED England laDd so to peculiarly free from the tho wilder aberrations of the religionist Of course there have been een periods like that of the great groat reat rebellion prolific in such manifestations but hut tho the Pantheists of the Vale Yalo of Belvoir vanished van van- almost as rapidly as thc they appeared appeared ap ap- ap peare while w-hilo m oven oren if it really did continue for two ho centuries los ies did so in iD complete obscurity These facts being admitted as they ther must be the tho pro progress ross of Christian SCIence Science Science ence in in England becomes the more re re- ro- ro markab Tho The movement mO is at present barely moro more than seventeen years old but it has already overspread tho the whole countr country Yet there has been nothing sensational in this growth for Christian Christian Christian Chris Chris- tian Scientists cannot bo be made mude in the bitter itter phrase of Sir Robert Walpole in iD speaking of patriots 4 like like mushrooms a in fl a ni night ht This must Indeed have havo been grimly apparent nt to the pioneers pioneer of or the movement How often one ODe wonders wonders won won- ders lier did dill these pioneer Christian Scientists Sd- Sd look Jook down at midnight ht from front their wi windows dows like Diogenes into ino that awful labyrinth of streets where under tinder their I Cf smoke counterpane five fin millions million of human bein beings lay Jar heaped and huddled to together with ith nothing h but frit lt n a t little carpentry carpentry car car- pentry and masonry between them striving in their loneliness B to realize the truth of that great saying sayiD of Douglas Douglas' Doug- Doug las las' II with with God ono one is majority Earliest Pioneer The earliest t of th these e rs piou was Kas Miss fi s Anne Dod Dodge who lio camo came from New NewYork NewYork York in ISOO She made her home homo in Lon London on for a year healing the i sick k and holding tiny meetings s. s When she returned t to America she left many grateful patients and aDd something beyond ond the power of man to recall the the fl fact t that h she had hall faithfully Jy proclaimed those eternal truths truth of which tho th master said sairI V Heaven and ana earth shall shaU pass pas awa away hut m mv my words or s shall not riot pass away Miss liss Dodges Dodge's place was as ta taken b by Mrs Freshman She Sho too ton stayed for a year stemming practically unsupported the of human thou thought ht racing through h the greatest city in the world Those were rc tho the days lYS when the very cr name Darn IC Christian Chri tian ienCo was as not known to a score of people in iD En England laDI when 1 London spoke with the voice of out of tho the mouth of tho the great pride of ot Jerusalem iD saving J 1 r am un rich and ba have hare va gotten totten riches and aDrI have need of nothing In the entire country there were vero at that time not a dozen copies of Science Sd once ence and Health One or two on the tho bo shelves of the library in the Brit ish museum where they had found their wa way through h tho the interest of that broad broadminded broadminded minded thinker the late Professor Hux- Hux 1 Icy and another there was in tho the li- li brar in Westminster placed there by ono one of the tire greatest of the great a abbeys abbey's b I great deans deaun and inscribed b bv own bis-own hand as IC presented h Arthur 35 by Stan Stan- ley by Even three e years cUs later when a 3 copy of the tLc text book was ordered from front frontone one ODe of the Jar largest cst book shops in London the mone money was returned d at tho end of three month months with th the information that no DO such book hook could bo be traced Other Scientists were brought to London in those days ays by pleasure or by br l The They too cast their see seed Bend like the Io sourer er now lOW b by the si p now on stony ground sometimes anton amon among thorns and ana sometimes on goo good ground oun Hardly one of these the knew what another lid ml Jf the they met it il was in the turmoil turmoil tur tur- moil of the tho streets only to go their vay aV unknown to each other as ships l pass pas in the tho night Regular Services Begin Beg It was not until 1594 that re regular s services were commenced in iu London AmoD Among those who had seen Miss Ii s Dod Dodge c off oft when heD she sho sailed for En England was Mrs Ward the dau law daughter of the tho Irish Insh art publisher Mrs Ward bt had l herself returned to England in 1892 S and had settled at Bedford As a Ii Christian Science student and aDd worker I she came naturally in contact with n Rome sonic of those whom Miss Dod Dodge e anc and Mrs rB Freshman ba had bad interested in tho the work and aDd she was also in close communication com corn with Mrs Colles one ono of 1 Mrs rs Eddys Eddy's own students then livin living at ut Mount Eagleton Dublin Bay At tho the request of all aU of these Mrs Ward Wan determined to to- move to London LODdon and re rc- rc start the tho work there Accordingly in 1894 she canto came to LOD London on and settled in iD Hammersmith where she commenced I reading tho weekly lesson From hence forth there there- was noi no looking back A year car later she moved to Portman Man Man- In Hammersmith she abs had been en in in the tho suburbs in iu Baker street she was in iii in tho the c center of London The attend attend- alice ance at the tho meetings 3 crept slowly up to about bout sixteen and it was then that Mr Ir Land Landy the tho present head bead usher in t the c mother church who was as on a visit isit to London suggested that tho the time bad had come to take a public room This adire advice ad- ad vice ire was at once acted on In March arch 1896 the small hall haJJ in tho the Portman rooms was as engaged and the first nt Christian Chris Chris- tian Science service in a public build in ing in iu London was opened to the worlds world Meetings Attract Attention The result was never neer for a moment in doubt The testimony meetings S began beean to attract attention and the hail haU hall filled so ro vapidly rapidly that by midsummer it was felt by those who bad mado made themselves responsible for the work that the tho time had bad como for Christian Scientists to pro provide a church for themselves After some Ome search a 3 disused synagogue in iD street belonging n to the Spanish and Portuguese Jews was dis dis- covered Negotiations were entered into in in- to for its purchase The Jews were fit nt first doubtful about selling it Like Liko a great eat many man other people whose knowl- knowl c edge c of Christian Science is is second hand tho they know knew a great many things about Christian Science that no Christian Chris Chris- tian Scientist knew However after attending one or two tt services ices their objections objections ob ob- ob j disappeared and the be tran transfer fer of the tho property was effected Tho The remodeling of If tho the e. e Which entailed the practical removal of the tho interior was undertaken b by Sir I Don Douglas Galton Gilton a distinguished ui ht ro royal l engineer and aDd one ono of ot tho the leading aci scientific CI- CI men of the day who h had ul become become be be- come a ert to Christian Christinn Science nc Under his directions the ra rabbis rabbi's bis bi's house was fitte fitted up tip 3 as n ii reading room fin and offices es while tho thu synagogue C proper became be lie- c came mo the church hurch On On Sunday Novem ber 7 1897 1697 tho the first Christian Science church in Europe opened it it doors to the world Today Tola cabled Mrs Ed Ea thy Un a nation is born Spiritual ap ap- unfolds heals With ith you ou bo ho there no iio more 11 en sen ea no V ebbing faith no v night Love Love- be hc th thy rj light upon the mountain of Israel Go God will multiply thee Church Owns Property So SQ far the course cours of Christian n l Science once nee iu in England laDd hUll had been f steered h calms In through comparative POss posses possession lion sion slon of a church oi of own it its course b au to bend benel over o what Mrs rs Eddy Ehl hits has termed U the the ever agitated ted but healthful waters of truth Lon London on like sonic soma great reat colossus slowly waking up Ui to the fact that a now new religious body Olly La hud bad sprung up in the midst of its misery ery and find sin In was at first lazily curious Presently Present ly Jy as u it began to realize that this new v religion on ha had conic como not only to preach but to work it became restless s These were the days when the legend grow grew CU into being th that Christian Science was a n erase craze Probably ly lymore a more completely foolish statement l never was made Even in iD London where if jf anywhere any any- where it would he be true truc it may iua said safely be he said that at least leas t O 03 per cent of the male maJe members of the time churches me nrc en en- n raged aged in iu lh the ordinary avocations of their heir sex And Antl what a socio society craze should hould 1 be doing doina in the manufacturing towns and great seaports next to London LODdon the chief dud strength h of If the move mo movement ment meat Jie lies no n. one has HI ever over attempted to explain The oho filet fact is that tho the move in ED England land just iut as elsewhere rep reI represents represents resents a s huge o democracy a democracy composed of every On stratum of society a democracy welded to together by a mutual respect n a unity of pu purpose sc a common understanding of Principle Tho The days in iu street stirring ones Slowly at first but with ever increasing iD momentum the healing work was building up the tho movement mo and in iu spite of 01 constant withdrawal of members to start t other churches tho the mo meetings tir grew re fuller and fuller It was then that tat Second coDd Church was formed and started its services in iD in Queens Queen's road Toad from whence it has bas removed them to toOD Bond OD street It Jt was th then n that the churches in iu Edinburgh aud and Dublin were Tere or organized Lady Vic Victoria Murray went to begin the tho w work rk in Manchester and wl Mrs Butler who ho as Miss Ramsay hail had astonished 3 the country by coming comin out ahead head of all the men D of her year nr in In tho the Cl Classical rr at Cambridge c opened the meetings in that town ton Purchase Church Si Site Even Een then judged by bJ numbers the tho workers were a a. tiny band uan and many manya a ni night bt as thc they passed out of tho church hurch int into tho the dark streets of tho the great reat sin Bin burdened cit city after niter diston- diston lD ng ing to the reading of the 13 Bible and bearing tho testimonies of those healed it t must have hac been with the remembrance brance of tho the words the harvest est trul truly ruly is great but ut the tho laborers arefe are arc few fe When the con congregation c at 31 Bran lon lonI street overflowed the teats seats and ana aisles and aDd ba had bad begun to sit on ou tho steps of I the he platform and aud the stairs down to the ball lall another move o was made A site itc was 38 purchased in Sloane terrace on which h the buildings of Fir First First- t. t church Ire uro Ireat at it present being erected It was as said at itt the time that to obtain a 1 free hold holdin in in n the center of London would be bo jm- jm possible and indeed the story of oft the difficulties overcome o tho the many many disappointments and the tho final triumph is iJ a anost most interesting one It must suffice here to chronicle the success Half tho the ground was occupied by br a a. disused We Wc- Wc Joyan loran chapel capable pable of seating ll e ei ht hundred people an and in this the tho services cs were hem held while h lc the first half of ot tho the new newchurch newchurch church huTch was being erected on ou the tho adjoining ad ad- joining land laud After tho the move mo from Brauston street the work increased more rapi rapidly l titan than I ever Third church in in London was wag formed the tho church at Richmond Richmon and ami the ns association at Bromley Meantime tho the other churches I Ioven were expanding in oven every direction Out of Dublin had hud I been formed Belfast out of Manchester Manches Manches- ter Liverpool In Iu most roost of tho the Manches-I Manches larger ar or towns in iu innumerable villages p. p and lud in in private houses services were beginning I to bo be held perhaps illustrates more clearly the die growth ro th of the tho movement than tho the increasing pop popularity of ilia lio ho lectures for lectures in general and mill religious lectures In lit particular have havu never attracted English audiences Jh The Tho first of these lectures was ag c delivered ic i by Mr Miller iJler in Queens Queen's halt hall ir The audience was wag comparatively small but that them thero should have hac been An nn audience audi audio ence dade at all on a bright summers summer's afternoon afternoon after after- noon Doon at this period of the work is is' a 3 tribute to tho interest Christian Sel Sd- I I Ienco enco exico was e even en n attracting Little by j little as lecture followed lecture the audiences increased I I How How said a reporter of one of I the principal papers as 35 he watched the people streaming out after Jud Judge e hannas hanna's Hanna's Hannas Han Han- nas na's lecture you 4 you can get ct such a crowd hero here is a mystery It might bt be a cal meeting instead ad of a religious one Forty Lectures Given Givon At last Jast when in the autumn of 1900 1906 Mr Ir V Vosburg came to lecture Jecture numbers were turned away front from the doors This m was 8 followed by the thc great rent meeting in I tho the Albert ball hall and as Lord Dunmore I stood tood with t Mr lr Young on OD the platform I looking up at the tho dense cn e mass of his lis t eners crowding tier aft after t tier er ho must surely have ha thought of that June JUDe afternoon afternoon after after- noon Doon when he be introduced Mr Miller to Nor i is this all The first year one ODe lecturer lecture was Wag given h en In Iu the tho year which has bas just passed some forty Ice lec ee tures ture ha have been delivered in iu different parts of tho the countr country In Au August 1st 1905 the first half of the church in 11 Sloane Terrace was opened The rime chapel on ou tho adjoining ground was wasat wasat wasat at once pulled down dowD and aDd |