Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy lectured in New York City at Steinway Hall the evening of February 15, to an audience of over a thousand persons who came together on a notice of only twenty-four hours. When she came on the stage the audience greeted her by rising to their feet, and standing till she was seated.
Mrs. Eddy was escorted on the stage and presented to the audience by Rev. J. C. Ager, pastor of the New Jerusalem Church of Brooklyn. Mr. Ager said that, while he could not pretend to be a student of Christian Science, he had been struck by its wide diffusion, and by the fact that it took hold of and brought to the acknowledgment of Christ so many individuals that other forms of religious thought had failed to interest; that the stream that had its origin from Mrs. Eddy had, he believed, divided into many branches, some of which, he had been told, flowed through very muddy channels, but that in all its forms it commanded the serious attention of all thoughtful observers, as the most important modern religious movement.
The lecturer, at the conclusion of Mr. Ager's remarks, discussed the questions:
Is God the divine Principle or a person?
Is man personal and individual?
Is matter substance?
Is materia medica a science?
Does Christian Science tend to destroy the efficacy of the atonement? and in conclusion, Christian Science is the stranger within our gates.
She was listened to with deepest attention, and in the most absolute silence to the end, when a round of hearty applause showed the appreciation of her listeners.
Mrs. Eddy then withdrew to the dressing-room, where the throng so pressed upon her that she was obliged to come out on the stage, and nearly an hour was passed in receiving the congratulations, thanks, and blessings of those who passed in succession to receive a grasp of the hand and a kindly word.
The record of no demonstration of Truth is in this strange age complete, without the notice of the efforts of malicious mind to thwart or embarrass its expression. Though these efforts were very noticeable the lecturer and her hearers rose superior to them, and during the latter half of the address the distinct movements of uplifting to God that always attend her utterances were noticeable even by those not in Science. The power of this great wave of divine thought reduced to impotence the efforts of the ministers of evil who came openly to secretly practise the malicious mental art.
The press of New York was fully represented. Some reports of the lecture were concise and fair, others were both unfair and discourteous. One was not a report but a compilation from the "Historical Sketch," and others were confused by the efforts of malicious mind, directed especially to the reporters. Though parts of the lecture were level to the commonest apprehension, one of the reporters came to us at the close and, showing his notes in despair, said he could not make one intelligible sentence.
One journal spoke of the visit to New York of the Discoverer and Teacher of Christian Science, as an "invasion of the territory of a rival in Christian Science!" What wonder that Science is discredited with a portion of the public when a disfellowshipped student of a single primary class poses before it in such a role.
It is impossible to pass in silence an incident of the reception on the platform, that lookers-on and listeners hesitated as to whether its bad taste—tried by mortal standards—or its wicked effrontery— from the moral standpoint—was more prominent. The only parallel to it that occurs to us is found in the history, in the book of Job, of the gathering of the sons of God, to which it is said that Satan also came.
To this gathering of tried students and friends came Mary H. Plunkett, and pressed to take the hand of our Teacher, and give the traitor's kiss. It is necessary to say to the public that Mary H. Plunkett took a primary course only, and that her real character was long ago unmasked to Christian Scientists. She then set up as a lecturer and teacher of Science at summer resorts and elsewhere. Students who are incorrect in the letter, and devoid of the Spirit, stand without credit or fellowship in the circles of Science. They speak soft words publicly of Christian Science which they need for their traffic, but in their private lives and communications are its worst foes.
