The Project Gutenberg eBook, Pulpit and Press (6th Edition), by Mary Baker
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Title: Pulpit and Press (6th Edition)
Author: Mary Baker Eddy
Release Date: December 11, 2003 [eBook #10437]
[Date last updated: January 8, 2005]
Language: English
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PULPIT AND PRESS (6TH EDITION)***
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Transcriber's Note: The spelling "diapson" occurs in our print copy
in the article from the _American Art Journal_.
PULPIT AND PRESS.
Sixth Edition.
BY
REVEREND MARY BAKER EDDY,
DISCOVERER AND FOUNDER OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
1897.
CONTENTS
DEDICATORY SERMON
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXT-BOOK
HYMN--_Laying the Corner Stone_
_Feed My Sheep_
_Christ My Refuge_
NOTE
CLIPPINGS FROM NEWSPAPERS
CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN
BOSTON HERALD
BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE
BOSTON TRANSCRIPT
JACKSON PATRIOT
OUTLOOK
AMERICAN ART JOURNAL
BOSTON JOURNAL
REPUBLIC, (WASHINGTON, D.C.)
NEW YORK TRIBUNE
KANSAS CITY JOURNAL
MONTREAL HERALD
BALTIMORE AMERICAN
REPORTER, (LEBANON, IND.)
NEW YORK COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER
SYRACUSE POST
NEW YORK HERALD
TORONTO GLOBE
CONCORD MONITOR
PEOPLE AND PATRIOT
UNION SIGNAL
NEW CENTURY
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE JOURNAL
CONCORD MONITOR
PREFACE.
This volume contains scintillations from press and pulpit--utterances
which epitomize the story of the birth of Christian Science, in 1866,
and its progress during the ensuing thirty years. Three quarters of a
century hence, when the children of to-day are the elders of the
twentieth century, it will be interesting to have not only a record of
the inclination given their own thoughts in the latter half of the
nineteenth century, but also a registry of the rise of the mercury in
the glass of the world's opinion.
It will then be instructive to turn backward the telescope of that
advanced age, with its lenses of more spiritual mentality, indicating
the gain of intellectual momentum, on the early footsteps of Christian
Science as planted in the pathway of this generation; to note the
impetus thereby given to Christianity; to con the facts surrounding the
cradle of this grand verity--that the sick are healed and sinners saved,
not by matter, but by Mind; and to further scan the features of the vast
problem of eternal life, as expressed in the absolute power of Truth,
and the actual bliss of man's existence in Science.
MARY BAKER EDDY.
February, 1895.
TO
The dear two thousand and six hundred Children,
WHOSE CONTRIBUTIONS
_Of $4,460 were devoted to the Mother's Room in The First Church of
Christ, Scientist, Boston_,
THIS UNIQUE BOOK IS TENDERLY DEDICATED BY
MARY BAKER EDDY.
DEDICATORY SERMON.
BY REV. MARY BAKER EDDY,
First pastor of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Mass.,
Delivered Jan. 6, 1895.
TEXT--Psalms xxxvi, 8. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the
fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy
pleasures."
A new year is a nursling, a babe of time, a prophecy and promise clad in
white raiment, kissed--and encumbered with greetings--redolent with
grief and gratitude.
An old year is time's adult, and 1893 was a distinguished character,
notable for good and evil. Time past and time present, both, may pain
us, but time IMPROVED is eloquent in God's praise. For due refreshment
garner the memory of 1894; for if wiser by reason of its large lessons,
and records deeply engraven, great is the value thereof.
Pass on returnless year!
The path behind thee is with glory crowned;
This spot whereon thou troddest was holy ground;
Pass proudly to thy bier!
To-day being with you in spirit, what need that I should be present _in
propria persona_? Were I present, methinks I should be much like the
Queen of Sheba, when she saw the house Solomon had erected. In the
expressive language of Holy Writ, "there was no more spirit in her;" and
she said: "Behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity
exceedeth the fame which I heard." Both without and within, the spirit
of beauty dominates the Mother Church, from its mosaic flooring to the
soft shimmer of its starlit dome.
Nevertheless, there is a thought higher and deeper than the edifice.
Material light and shade are temporal, not eternal. Turning the
attention from sublunary views, however enchanting, think for a moment
with me of the house wherewith "they shall be abundantly satisfied,"
"Even the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." With the
mind's eye glance at the direful scenes of the war between China and
Japan. Imagine yourselves in a poorly barricaded fort, fiercely besieged
by the enemy. Would you rush forth single-handed to combat the foe? Nay,
would you not rather strengthen your citadel by every means in your
power, and remain within the walls for its defense? Likewise should we
do as metaphysicians and Christian Scientists. The real house in which
"we live, move, and have our being" is Spirit, God, the eternal harmony
of infinite Soul. The enemy we confront would overthrow this sublime
fortress, and it behooves us to defend our heritage.
How can we do this christianly scientific work? By intrenching ourselves
in the knowledge that our true temple is no human fabrication, but the
superstructure of Truth, reared on the foundation of Love, and pinnacled
in Life. Such being its nature, how can our godly temple possibly be
demolished, or even disturbed? Can eternity end? Can Life die? Can
Truth be uncertain? Can Love be less than boundless? Referring to this
temple our Master said: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will
raise it up." He also said: "The kingdom of God is already within you."
Know then that you possess sovereign power to think and act
rightly,--and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and
trespass on Love. If you maintain this position, who or what can cause
you to sin or suffer? Our surety is in our confidence that we are indeed
dwellers in Truth and Love, man's eternal mansion. Such a heavenly
assurance ends all warfare, and bids tumult cease, for the good fight we
have waged is over, and divine Love gives us the true sense of victory.
"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and
thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." No longer are
we of the church militant, but of the church triumphant; and with Job of
old we exclaim: "Yet in my flesh shall I see God." The river of his
pleasures is a tributary of divine love, whose living waters have their
source in God, and flow into everlasting Life. We drink of this river
when all human desires are quenched, satisfied with what is pleasing to
the divine Mind.
Perchance some one of you may say, "The evidence of spiritual verity in
me is so small that I am afraid. I feel so far from victory over the
flesh that to reach out for a present realization of my hope savors of
temerity. Because of my own unfitness for such a spiritual animus my
strength is naught, and my faith fails." O thou "weak and infirm of
purpose." Jesus said, "Be not afraid."
"What if the little rain should say,
'So small a drop as I
Can ne'er refresh a drooping earth,
I'll tarry in the sky.'"
Is not a man metaphysically and mathematically number one, a unit, and
therefore whole number, governed and protected by his divine Principle,
God? You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity
with your divine Source and daily demonstrate this. Then you will find
that one is as important a factor as duodecillions in being and doing
right, and thus demonstrating deific Principle. A dewdrop reflects the
sun. Each of Christ's little ones reflects the infinite One, and
therefore is the seer's declaration true, that "one with God is a
majority."
A single drop of water may help to hide the stars, or crown the tree
with blossoms.
Who lives in Good, lives also in God,--lives in all Life, through all
space. His is an individual kingdom, his diadem a crown of crowns. His
existence is deathless, forever unfolding its eternal Principle. Wait
patiently on illimitable Love, the lord and giver of Life. _Reflect this
Life_, and with it cometh the full power of Being. "They shall be
abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house."
In 1893 the World's Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago, used, in
all its public sessions, my form of prayer since 1866; and one of the
very clergymen who had publicly proclaimed me "the prayerless Mrs.
Eddy," offered his audible adoration in the words I use, besides
listening to an address on Christian Science from my pen, read by Judge
S.J. Hanna, in that unique assembly.
When the light of one friendship after another passes from earth to
heaven, we kindle in place thereof the glow of some deathless reality.
Memory, faithful to goodness, holds in her secret chambers those
characters of holiest sort, bravest to endure, firmest to suffer,
soonest to renounce. Such was the founder of the Concord School of
Philosophy--the late A. Bronson Alcott.
After the publication of SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES,
his athletic mind, scholarly and serene, was the first to bedew my hope
with a drop of humanity. When the press and pulpit cannonaded this book,
he introduced himself to its author by saying--"I have come to comfort
you." Then eloquently paraphrasing it and prophesying its prosperity,
his conversation with a beauty all its own reassured me. _That prophecy
is fulfilled_.
This book, in 1895, is in its ninety-first edition of one thousand
copies. It is in the public libraries of the principal cities, colleges,
and Universities of America; also the same in Great Britain, France,
Germany, Russia, Italy, Greece, Japan, India, and China, in the Oxford
University and the Victoria Institute, England; in the Academy of
Greece, and the Vatican at Rome.
This book is the leaven fermenting religion; it is palpably working in
the sermons, Sunday schools, and literature of our and other lands. This
spiritual chemicalization is the upheaval produced when Truth is
neutralizing error, and impurities are passing off. And it will continue
till the antithesis of Christianity engendering the limited forms of a
national or tyrannical religion yields to the church established by the
Nazarene prophet and maintained on the spiritual foundation of Christ's
healing.
Good, the Anglo-Saxon term for God, unites Science to Christianity. It
presents to the understanding, not matter, but Mind; not the deified
drug, but the goodness of God--healing and saving mankind.
The author of "Marriage of the Lamb," who made the mistake of thinking
she caught her notions from my book, wrote to me in 1894, "Six months
ago your book, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, was put into my hands. I had not read
three pages before I realized I had found that for which I had hungered
since girlhood, and was healed instantaneously of an ailment of seven
years standing. I cast from me the false remedy I had vainly used and
turned to the Great Physician. I went with my husband, a missionary to
China, in 1884. He went out under the auspices of the Methodist
Episcopal church. I feel the truth is leading us to return to Japan."
Another brilliant enunciator, seeker, and servant of Truth, the Rev.
William R. Alger of Boston, signalled me kindly as my lone bark rose and
fell and rode the rough sea. At a conversazione in Boston, he said, "You
may find in Mrs. Eddy's metaphysical teachings, more than is dreamt of
in your philosophy."
Also that renowned apostle of anti-slavery, Wendell Phillips, the native
course of whose mind never swerved from the chariot-paths of justice,
speaking of my work, said: "Had I young blood in my veins I would help
that woman."
I love Boston, and especially the laws of the state whereof this city is
the capital. To-day, as of yore, her laws have befriended progress.
Yet when I recall the past,--how the gospel of healing was
simultaneously praised and persecuted in Boston,--and remember also that
God is just, I wonder whether, were our dear Master in our New England
metropolis at this hour, he would not weep over it, as he wept over
Jerusalem! Oh, ye tears! Not in vain did ye flow. Those sacred drops
were but enshrined for future use, and God has now unsealed their
receptacle with His outstretched arm. Those crystal globes made morals
for mankind. They will rise with joy, and with power to wash away, in
floods of forgiveness, every crime, even when mistakenly committed in
the name of religion.
An unjust, unmerciful, and oppressive priesthood must perish, for false
prophets in the present as in the past stumble onward to their doom;
while their tabernacles crumble with dry rot. "God is not mocked," and
"the word of our God abideth forever."
I have ordained the Bible and the Christian Science text-book, SCIENCE
AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, as pastor of The First Church of
Christ, Scientist, in Boston,--so long as this church is satisfied with
this pastor. This is my first ordination. "They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink
of the river of thy pleasures."
All praise to the press of America's Athens,--and throughout our land,
the press has spoken out historically, impartially. Like the winds
telling tales through the leaves of an ancient oak, unfallen, may our
church chimes repeat my thanks to the press.
Notwithstanding the perplexed condition of our nation's finances, the
want and woe, with millions of dollars unemployed in our money centres,
the Christian Scientists, within fourteen months, responded to the call
for this church with $191,012. Not a mortgage was given nor a loan
solicited, and the donors all touchingly told their privileged joy at
helping to build the Mother Church. There was no urging, begging, or
borrowing, only the need made known and forth came the money, or
diamonds, which served to erect this "miracle in stone."
Even the children vied with their parents to meet the demand. Little
hands never before devoted to menial services, shoveled snow, and babes
gave kisses to earn a few pence toward this consummation. Some of these
lambs my prayers had christened, but Christ will rechristen them with
his own new name. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast Thou
perfected praise." The resident youthful workers were called BUSY BEES.
Sweet society, precious children, your loving hearts and deft fingers
distilled the nectar, and painted the finest flowers in the fabric of
this history--even its centre-piece--Mother's Room in The First Church
of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. The children are destined to witness
results which will eclipse oriental dreams. They belong to the twentieth
century. By juvenile aid, into the building fund have come $4,460. Ah,
children, you are the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the
hope of our race!
Brothers of the Christian Science Board of Directors, when your tireless
tasks are done--well done--no Delphian lyre could break the full chords
of such a rest. May the altar you have built never be shattered in our
hearts, but justice, mercy, and love kindle perpetually its fires.
It was well that the brother whose appliances warm this house, warmed
also our perishless hope, and nerved its grand fulfilment. Woman, true
to her instinct, came to the rescue as sunshine from the clouds; so,
when man quibbled over an architectural exigency, a woman climbed with
feet and hands to the top of the tower, and helped settle the subject.
After the loss of our late lamented pastor, Rev. D.A. Easton, the
church services were maintained by excellent sermons from the editor
of the _Christian Science Journal_ (who, with his better half, is a
very whole man), together with the Sunday school giving this flock
"drink from the river of His pleasures." Oh, glorious hope, and
blessed assurance, "it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the
Kingdom." Christians rejoice in secret, they have a bounty hidden from
the world. Self-forgetfulness, purity, and love are treasures
untold--constant prayers, prophecies, and anointings. Practice, not
profession,--goodness, not doctrines,--spiritual understanding, not
mere belief, gain the ear and right hand of Omnipotence, and call down
blessings infinite. Faith without works is dead. The foundation of
enlightened faith is Christ's teachings and _practice_. It was our
Master's self-immolation, his life-giving love, healing both mind and
body, that raised the deadened conscience, paralyzed by inactive
faith, to a quickened sense of mortal's necessities,--and God's power
and purpose to supply them. It was, in the words of the Psalmist, He
"who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."
Rome's fallen fanes and silent Aventine is glory's tomb; her pomp and
power lie low in dust. Our land, more favored, had its Pilgrim Fathers.
On shores of solitude at Plymouth Rock, they planted a nation's
heart,--the rights of conscience, imperishable glory. No dream of
avarice or ambition broke their exalted purpose, theirs was the wish to
reign in hope's reality--the realm of Love.
Christian Scientists, you have planted your standard on the Rock of
Christ, the true, the spiritual idea,--the chief corner-stone in the
house of our God. And our Master said: "The stone which the builders
rejected the same is become the head of the corner." If you are less
appreciated to-day than your forefathers, wait--for if you are as devout
as they and more scientific, as progress certainly demands, your plant
is immortal. Let us rejoice that chill vicissitudes have not withheld
the timely shelter of this house, which descended like day spring from
on high.
Divine Presence, breathe Thou thy blessing on every heart in this house.
Speak out, oh, soul! This is the new-born of Spirit, this is His
redeemed, this, His beloved. May the Kingdom of God within you--with you
alway--re-ascending, bear you outward, upward, Heavenward. May the sweet
song of silver-throated singers, making melody more real, and the
organ's voice as the sound of many waters, and the Word spoken in this
sacred Temple dedicated to the ever-present God--mingle with the joy of
angels and rehearse your heart's holy intents. May all whose means,
energies, and prayers helped erect the Mother Church, find within it
home, and _Heaven_.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXT-BOOK.
The following selections from SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE
SCRIPTURES, pages 560-563, were read from the platform. The impressive
stillness of the audience indicated close attention.
_Revelation_ xii, 10-12. And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven: Now
is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the
power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved
not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye
that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!
for the Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time.
For victory over a single sin we give thanks, and magnify the Lord of
Hosts. Then what shall we say of the mighty conquest over all sin? A
louder song, sweeter than has ever before reached high Heaven, now rises
clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ; for the accuser is not
there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting strain.
Self-abnegation--by which we lay down all for Christ, Truth, in our
warfare against error--is a rule in Christian Science. This rule clearly
interprets God as divine Principle,--as Life, represented by the Father;
as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented by the mother.
Every mortal, at some period, here or hereafter, must grapple with and
overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed to God.
The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make
thee ruler over many," is literally fulfilled, when we are conscious of
the supremacy of Truth, whereby the nothingness of error is seen, and we
know that its nothingness is in proportion to its wickedness. He that
touches the hem of Christ's robe, and masters his mortal belief,
animality and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing,--in a sweet and
certain sense that God is Love. Alas for those who break faith with
Divine Science, and fail to strangle the serpent of sin, as well as of
sickness! They are dwellers still in the deep darkness of belief. They
are in the surging sea of error, not struggling to lift their heads
above the drowning wave.
What must the end be? They must eventually expiate their sin through
suffering. The sin which one has made his bosom companion, comes back to
him at last with accelerated force; for the evil knoweth its time is
short. Here the Scriptures declare that evil is temporal, not eternal.
The dragon is at last stung to death by his own malice; but how many
periods of self-torture it may take to remove all sin and its effects,
must depend upon its obduracy.
_Revelation_ xii, 13. And when the dragon saw
that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the
woman which brought forth the man child.
The march of mind and honest investigation will bring the hour when the
people will chain, with fetters of some sort, the growing occultism of
this period. The present apathy as to the tendency of certain active yet
unseen mental agencies will finally be shocked into another extreme
mortal mood,--into human indignation; for one extreme follows another.
_Revelation_ xii, 15, 16. And the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the
woman, that he might cause her to be carried away
of the flood. And the earth helped the woman; and
the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the
flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Millions of unprejudiced minds--simple seekers for Truth, weary
wanderers, athirst in the desert--are waiting and watching for rest and
drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear
the consequences. What if the old dragon sends forth a new flood, to
drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown your voice with its roar,
nor again sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night. In
this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be
understood. Those ready for the blessing you impart will give thanks.
The waters will be pacified, and Christ will command the wave.
When God heals the sick or the sinful, they should know the great
benefit Mind has wrought. They should also know the great delusion of
mortal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful. Many are willing to open
the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in divine Mind; but
they are not as willing to point out the evil in human thought, and
expose its hidden mental ways of accomplishing iniquity.
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary, to ensure the
avoidance of the evil? Because people like you better when you tell
them their virtues, than when you tell them their vices. It requires the
spirit of our great Master to tell a man his faults, and so risk human
displeasure, for the sake of doing right and benefiting our race. Who is
telling mankind of their foe in ambush? Is the informer one who sees the
foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil, and designate those as
unfaithful stewards, who have seen the danger and yet have given no
warning.
At all times, and under all circumstances, overcome evil with Good. Know
thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory
over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.
The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one
Divinity.
HYMNS.
BY REV. MARY BAKER EDDY.
(Set to the Church chimes and sung on this occasion.)
LAYING THE CORNER STONE.
_Laus Deo_, it is done.
Rolled away from loving heart
Is a stone,--
Joyous, risen, we depart
Having one.
_Laus Deo_,--on this rock
(Heaven chiseled squarely good)
Stands His Church--
God is Love and understood
By His flock.
_Laus Deo_, night starlit
Slumbers not in God's embrace;
Then oh, man!
Like this stone be in thy place;
Stand, not sit.
Cold, silent, stately stone,
Dirge and song and shoutings low,
In thy heart
Dwell serene,--and sorrow? No,
It has none,
_Laus Deo_!
FEED MY SHEEP.
Shepherd, show me how to go
O'er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow,
How to feed Thy sheep;
I will listen for Thy voice,
Lest my footsteps stray,
I will follow and rejoice
All the rugged way.
Thou wilt bind the stubborn will,
Wound the callous breast,
Make self righteousness be still,
Break earth's stupid rest;
Strangers on a barren shore
Lab'ring long and lone--
We would enter by the door,
And Thou know'st Thine own.
So when day grows dark and cold,
Tear or triumph harms,
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,
Take them in Thine arms;
Feed the hungry, heal the heart,
Till the morning's beam;
White as wool, ere they depart--
Shepherd, wash them clean.
CHRIST MY REFUGE.
O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind
There sweeps a strain,
Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind
The power of pain
And wake a white-winged angel throng
Of thoughts, illumed
By faith, and breathed in raptured song,
With love perfumed.
Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show
Life's burdens light.
We kiss the cross, and wait to know
A world more bright.
And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea
We see Christ walk,
And come to us, and tenderly,
Divinely talk.
Thus Truth engrounds me on the Rock
Upon Life's shore;
'Gainst which the winds and waves can shock,
Oh, nevermore!
From tired joy and grief afar,
And nearer Thee,--
Father, where Thine own children are,
I love to be.
My prayer, some daily good to do
To Thine, for Thee,--
Some offering pure of Love, whereto
God leadeth me.
NOTE.--The land whereon stands The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston, was first purchased by the church and society. Owing to a heavy
loss they were unable to pay the mortgage, therefore I paid it and
through trustees gave back the land to the church.
In 1892 I had to recover the land from the trustees, reorganize the
church, and reobtain its charter--not, however, through the state
commissioner, who refused to grant it, but by means of a statute of the
state, and through Directors regive the land to the church. In 1895 I
reconstructed my original system of ministry and church government. Thus
committed to the providence of God, the prosperity of this church is
unsurpassed.
From first to last the Mother church seemed type and shadow of the
warfare between the flesh and Spirit, even that shadow, whose substance
is the divine Spirit, imperatively propelling the greatest moral,
physical, civil, and religious reform ever known on earth. In the words
of the Prophet: "The shadow of a great Rock in a weary land."
This church was dedicated on January 6, anciently one of the many dates
selected and observed in the East as the day of the birth and baptism of
our Master Metaphysician, Jesus of Nazareth.
Christian Scientists, their children, and grandchildren to the latest
generations, inevitably love one another with that love wherewith Christ
loveth us. A love unselfish, unambitious, impartial, universal,--that
loves only because it _is_ Love. Moreover, they love their enemies, even
those that hate them. This we all must do to be Christian Scientists in
spirit and in truth. I long, and live, to see this love demonstrated. I
am seeking and praying for it to inhabit my own heart and to be made
manifest in my life. Who will unite with me in this pure purpose, and
faithfully struggle till it be accomplished? Let this be our Christian
endeavor society which Christ organizes and blesses.
While we entertain due respect and fellowship for what is good and doing
good in all denominations of religion, and shun whatever would isolate
us from a true sense of goodness in others--we cannot serve mammon.
Christian Scientists are really united to only that which is Christlike,
but they are not indifferent to the welfare of any one. To perpetuate a
cold distance between our denomination and other sects, and close the
door on church or individuals--however much this is done to us--is not
Christian Science. Go not into the way of the unchristly, but
wheresoever you recognize a clear expression of God's likeness, there
abide in confidence and hope.
Our unity with churches of other denominations must rest on the spirit
of Christ calling us together. It cannot come from any other source.
Popularity, self aggrandizement, aught that can darken in any degree our
spirituality, must be set aside. Only what feeds and fills the sentiment
with unworldliness, can give peace and good will towards men.
All Christian churches have one bond of unity, one nucleus or point of
convergence, one prayer,--The Lord's Prayer. It is matter for rejoicing
that we unite in love, and in this sacred petition with every praying
assembly on earth,--"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as in
Heaven."
If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I
predict that in the twentieth century, every Christian church in our
land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of
Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in His name. Christ will
give to Christianity His new name, and Christendom will be classified as
Christian Scientists.
When the doctrinal barriers between the churches are broken, and the
bonds of peace are cemented by spiritual understanding and Love, there
will be unity of spirit, and the healing power of Christ will prevail.
Then shall Zion have put on her most beautiful garments, and her waste
places budded and blossomed as the rose.
CLIPPINGS FROM NEWSPAPERS.
(_Daily Inter-Ocean_, Chicago, December 31, 1894.)
MARY BAKER EDDY.
Completion of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston.--"Our
Prayer in Stone."--Description of the Most Unique Structure in Any
City.--A Beautiful Temple and Its Furnishings--Mrs. Eddy's Work and Her
Influence.
BOSTON, MASS., December 28.--_Special Correspondence_.--The "great
awakening" of the time of Jonathan Edwards has been paralleled daring
the last decade by a wave of idealism that has swept over the country,
manifesting itself under several different aspects and under various
names, but each having the common identity of spiritual demand. This
movement, under the guise of Christian Science, and ingenuously calling
out a closer inquiry into oriental philosophy, prefigures itself to us
as one of the most potent factors in the social evolution of the last
quarter of the nineteenth century. History shows the curious fact that
the closing years of every century are years of more intense life
manifested in unrest, or in aspiration, and scholars of special
research, like Professor Max Muller, assert that the end of a cycle, as
is the latter part of the present century, is marked by peculiar
intimations of man's immortal life.
The completion of the first Christian Science church erected in Boston
strikes a keynote of definite attention. This church is in the
fashionable Back Bay between Commonwealth and Huntington avenues. It is
one of the most beautiful, and is certainly the most unique structure in
any city. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, as it is officially
called, is termed by its founders "our prayer in stone." It is located
at the intersection of Norway and Falmouth streets on a plot of
triangular ground, the design a Romanesque tower with a circular front
and an octagonal form accented by stone porticos and turreted corners.
On the front is a marble tablet with the following inscription carved in
bold relief:
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, erected
Anno Domini, 1894. A testimonial to our beloved
teacher, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and
Founder of Christian Science; author of "Science
And Health, with Key to the Scriptures;" President
of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, and the
first Pastor of this denomination.
THE CHURCH EDIFICE.
The church is built of Concord granite in light gray, with trimmings of
the pink granite of New Hampshire, Mrs. Eddy's native State. The
architecture is Romanesque throughout. The tower is 120 feet in height
and 21-1/2 feet square. The entrances are of marble, with doors of
antique oak richly carved. The windows of stained glass are very rich in
pictorial effect. The lighting and cooling of the church--for cooling is
a recognized feature as well as heating--are done by electricity, and
the heat generated by two large boilers in the basement is distributed
by the four systems with motor electric power. The partitions are of
iron; the floors of marble in mosaic work, and the edifice is therefore
as literally fireproof as is conceivable. The principal features are the
auditorium, seating 1,100 people and capable of holding 1,500; the
"Mother's room," designed for the exclusive use of Mrs. Eddy; the
"directors' room," and the vestry. The girders are all of iron, the roof
is of terra cotta tiles, the galleries are in plaster relief, the window
frames are of iron, coated with plaster; the staircases are of iron,
with marble stairs of rose pink and marble approaches.
The vestibule is a fitting entrance to this magnificent temple. In the
ceiling is a sunburst with a seven-pointed star, which illuminates it.
From this are the entrances leading to the auditorium, the "Mother's
room," and the directors' room.
The auditorium is seated with pews of curly birch, upholstered in old
rose plush. The floor is in white Italian mosaic, with frieze of the old
rose, and the wainscoting repeats the same tints. The base and cap are
of pink Tennessee marble. On the walls are bracketed oxidized silver
lamps of Roman design, and there are frequent illuminated texts from the
Bible and from Mrs. Eddy's SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
impaneled. A sunburst in the centre of the ceiling takes the place of
chandeliers. There is a disc of cut glass in decorative designs covering
144 electric lights in the form of a star, which is twenty-one inches
from point to point, the centre being of pure white light, and each ray
under prisms which reflect the rainbow tints. The galleries are richly
paneled in relief work. The organ and choir gallery is spacious and rich
beyond the power of words to depict. The platform--corresponding to the
chancel of an Episcopal church--is a mosaic work, with richly carved
seats following the sweep of its curve, with a lamp stand of the
rennaissance period on either end, bearing six richly wrought oxidized
silver lamps, eight feet in height. The great organ comes from Detroit.
It is one of vast compass, with æolian attachment, and cost $11,000. It
is the gift of a single individual--a votive offering of gratitude for
the healing of the wife of the donor.
The chime of bells includes fifteen, of fine range and perfect tone.
THE "MOTHER'S ROOM."
The "Mother's room" is approached by an entrance of Italian marble, and
over the door in large golden letters on a marble tablet, is the word
"Love." In this room the mosaic marble floor of white has a Romanesque
border and is decorated with sprays of fig leaves bearing fruit. The
room is toned in pale green with relief in old rose. The mantel is of
onyx and gold. Before the great bay window hangs an Athenian lamp over
two hundred years old, which will be kept always burning day and night.
Leading off the "Mother's room" are toilet apartments, with full length
French mirrors and every convenience.
The directors' room is very beautiful in marble approaches and rich
carving, and off this is a vault for the safe preservation of papers.
The vestry seats 800 people, and opening from it are three large class
rooms and the pastor's study.
The windows are a remarkable feature of this temple. There are no
"memorial" windows: the entire church is a Testimonial, not a
memorial--a point that the members strongly insist upon.
In the auditorium are two rose windows--one representing the heavenly
city which "cometh down from God out of Heaven," with six small windows
beneath, emblematic of the six water pots referred to in John xi:6. The
other rose window represents the raising of the daughter of Jairus.
Beneath are two small windows bearing palms of victory and others with
lamps typical of Science and Health.
Another great window tells its pictorial story of the four Marys--the
mother of Jesus, Mary anointing the head of Jesus, Mary washing the feet
of Jesus, Mary at the resurrection; and the woman spoken of in the
Apocalypse, chapter 12, God-crowned.
One more window in the auditorium represents the raising of Lazarus.
In the gallery are windows representing John on the Isle of Patmos and
others of pictorial significance. In the "Mother's room" the windows are
of still more unique interest. A large bay window composed of three
separate panels is designed to be wholly typical of the work of Mrs.
Eddy. The central panel represents her in solitude and meditation
searching the scriptures by the light of a single candle, while the Star
of Bethlehem shines down from above. Above this is a panel containing
the Christian Science seal, and other panels are decorated with
emblematic designs with the legends, "Heal the Sick," "Raise the Dead,"
"Cleanse the Lepers," and "Cast Out Demons."
The cross and the crown and the star are presented in appropriate
decorative effect. The cost of this church is $221,000, exclusive of the
land--a gift from Mrs. Eddy--which is valued at some $40,000.
THE ORDER OF SERVICE.
The order of service in the Christian Science Church does not differ
widely from that of any other sect save that its service includes the
use of Mrs. Eddy's book entitled SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE
SCRIPTURES in perhaps equal measure to its use of the Bible--The reading
is from the two alternately; the singing is from a compilation called
the "Christian Science Hymnal," but its songs are for the most part
those devotional hymns from Herbert, Faber, Robertson, Wesley, Browning,
and other recognized devotional poets, with selections from Whittier and
Lowell, as are found in the hymn books of the Unitarian churches. For
the past year or two Judge Hanna, formerly of Chicago, has filled the
office of pastor to the church in this city, which held its meetings in
Chickering hall, and later in Copley hall, in the new Grundmann Studio
building on Copley square. Preceding Judge Hanna were Rev. D.A. Easton
and Rev. L.P. Norcross, both of whom had formerly been Congregational
clergymen. The organizer and first pastor of the church here was Mrs.
Eddy herself, of whose work I shall venture to speak, a little later, in
this article.
Last Sunday I gave myself the pleasure of attending the service held in
Copley hall. The spacious apartment was thronged with a congregation
whose remarkable earnestness impressed the observer. There was no
straggling of late-comers. Before the appointed hour every seat in the
hall was filled and a large number of chairs pressed into service for
the overflowing throng. The music was spirited, and the selections from
the Bible and from SCIENCE AND HEALTH were finely read by Judge Hanna.
Then came his sermon, which dealt directly with the command of Christ to
"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast out demons." In
his admirable discourse, Judge Hanna said that while all these
injunctions could, under certain conditions, be interpreted and
fulfilled literally, the special lesson was to be taken spiritually--to
cleanse the leprosy of sin, to cast out the demons of evil thought. The
discourse was able, and helpful in its suggestive interpretation.
THE CHURCH MEMBERS.
Later I was told that almost the entire congregation was composed of
persons who had either been themselves, or had seen members of their own
families, healed by Christian Science treatment; and I was further told
that once when a Boston clergyman remonstrated with Judge Hanna for
enticing a separate congregation rather than offering their strength to
unite with churches already established--I was told he replied that the
Christian Science church did not recruit itself from other churches, but
from the graveyards! The church numbers now 4,000 members, but this
estimate, as I understand, is not limited to the Boston adherents, but
includes those all over the country. The ceremonial of uniting is to
sign a brief "confession of faith," written by Mrs. Eddy, and to unite
in communion, which is not celebrated by outward symbols of bread and
wine, but by uniting in silent prayer.
The "confession of faith" includes the declaration that the Scriptures
are the guide to eternal life; that there is a Supreme Being, and his
Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that man is made in his image. It affirms
the atonement; it recognizes Jesus as the teacher and guide to
salvation; the forgiveness of sin by God, and affirms the power of truth
over error, and the need of living faith at the moment to realize the
possibilities of the divine life. The entire membership of Christian
Scientists throughout the world now exceeds 200,000 people. The church
in Boston was organized by Mrs. Eddy, and the first meeting held on
April 19, 1879. It opened with twenty-six members, and within fifteen
years it has grown to its present impressive proportions, and has now
its own magnificent church building, costing over $200,000, and entirely
paid for when its consecration service on January 6 shall be celebrated.
This is certainly a very remarkable retrospect.
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this denomination and discoverer of
Christian Science, as they term her work in affirming the present
application of the principles asserted by Jesus, is a most interesting
personality. At the risk of colloquialism, I am tempted to "begin at the
beginning" of my own knowledge of Mrs. Eddy, and take, as the point of
departure, my first meeting with her and the subsequent development of
some degree of familiarity with the work of her life which that meeting
inaugurated for me.
MRS. EDDY.
It was during some year in the early '80's that I became aware--from
that close contact with public feeling resulting from editorial work in
daily journalism--that the Boston atmosphere was largely thrilled and
pervaded by a new and increasing interest in the dominance of mind over
matter, and that the central figure in all this agitation was Mrs. Eddy.
To a note which I wrote her, begging the favor of an interview for press
use, she most kindly replied, naming an evening on which she would
receive me. At the hour named I rang the bell at a spacious house on
Columbus avenue, and I was hardly more than seated before Mrs. Eddy
entered the room. She impressed me as singularly graceful and winning in
bearing and manner, and with great claim to personal beauty. Her figure
was tall, slender, and as flexible in movement as that of a Delsarte
disciple; her face, framed in dark hair and lighted by luminous blue
eyes, had the transparency and rose-flush of tint so often seen in New
England, and she was magnetic, earnest, impassioned. No photographs can
do the least justice to Mrs. Eddy, as her beautiful complexion and
changeful expression cannot thus be reproduced. At once one would
perceive that she had the temperament to dominate, to lead, to control,
not by any crude self-assertion, but a spiritual animus. Of course such
a personality, with the wonderful tumult in the air that her large and
enthusiastic following excited, fascinated the imagination. What had she
originated? I mentally questioned this modern St. Catherine who was
dominating her followers like any abbess of old. She told me the story
of her life, so far as outward events may translate those inner
experiences which alone are significant.
Mary Baker was the daughter of Mark and Abigail (Ambrose) Baker, and was
born in Concord, N.H., somewhere in the early decade of 1820-'30. At the
time I met her she must have been some sixty years of age, yet she had
the coloring and the elastic bearing of a woman of thirty, and this, she
told me, was due to the principles of Christian Science. On her father's
side Mrs. Eddy came from Scotch and English ancestry, and Hannah Moore
was a relative of her grandmother. Deacon Ambrose, her maternal
grandfather, was known as a "godly man," and her mother was a religious
enthusiast, a saintly and consecrated character. One of her brothers,
Albert Baker, graduated at Dartmouth and achieved eminence as a lawyer.
MRS. EDDY AS A CHILD.
As a child Mary Baker saw visions and dreamed dreams. When eight years
of age she began, like Jeanne d'Arc, to hear "voices," and for a year
she heard her name called distinctly, and would often run to her mother
questioning if she were wanted. One night the mother related to her the
story of Samuel, and bade her, if she heard the voice again to reply as
he did: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." The call came, but the
little maid was afraid and did not reply. This caused her tears of
remorse and she prayed for forgiveness, and promised to reply if the
call came again. It came, and she answered as her mother had bidden her,
and after that it ceased.
These experiences, of which Catholic biographies are full, and which
history not unfrequently emphasizes, certainly offer food for
meditation. Theodore Parker related that when he was a lad at work in a
field one day on his father's farm at Lexington, an old man with a snowy
beard suddenly appeared at his side, and walked with him as he worked,
giving him high counsel and serious thought. All inquiry in the
neighborhood as to whence the stranger came or whither he went was
fruitless; no one else had seen him, and Mr. Parker always believed, so
a friend has told me, that his visitor was a spiritual form from another
world. It is certainly true that many and many persons, whose life has
been destined to more than ordinary achievement, have had experiences of
voices or visions in their early youth.
At an early age Miss Baker was married to Colonel Glover, of Charleston,
S.C., who lived only a year. She returned to her father's home--in
1844--and from that time until 1866 no special record is to be made.
In 1866, while living in Lynn, Mass., Mrs. Eddy (then Mrs. Glover) met
with a severe accident and her case was pronounced hopeless by the
physicians. There came a Sunday morning when her pastor came to bid her
good-by before proceeding to his morning service as there was no
probability that she would be alive at its close. During this time she
suddenly became aware of a divine illumination and ministration. She
requested those with her to withdraw, and reluctantly they did so,
believing her delirious. Soon, to their bewilderment and fright, she
walked into the adjoining room, "and they thought I had died, and that
it was my apparition," she said.
THE PRINCIPLE OF DIVINE HEALING.
From that hour dated her conviction of the principle of divine healing,
and that it is as true to-day as it was in the days when Jesus of
Nazareth walked the earth. "I felt that the divine spirit had wrought a
miracle," she said, in reference to this experience. "How, I could not
tell, but later I found it to be in perfect scientific accord with the
divine law." From 1866-'69, Mrs. Eddy withdrew from the world to
meditate, to pray, to search the Scriptures.
"During this time," she said, in reply to my questions, "the Bible was
my only text-book. It answered my questions as to the process by which I
was restored to health; it came to me with a new meaning, and suddenly I
apprehended the spiritual meaning of the teaching of Jesus and the
principle and the law involved in spiritual science and metaphysical
healing--in a word--Christian science."
Mrs. Eddy came to perceive that Christ's healing was not miraculous, but
was simply a natural fulfilment of divine law--a law as operative in the
world to-day as it was nineteen hundred years ago. "Divine science is
begotten of spirituality," she says, "since only the 'pure in heart' can
see God."
In writing of this experience, Mrs. Eddy has said:
I had learned that thought must be spiritualized
in order to apprehend Spirit. It must become
honest unselfish, and pure, in order to have the
least understanding of God in Divine Science. The
first must become last. Our reliance upon material
things must be transferred to a perception of and
dependence on spiritual things. For spirit to be
supreme in demonstration, it must be supreme in
our affections, and we must be clad with divine
power. I had learned that mind reconstructed the
body and that nothing else could. All science is a
revelation.
Through homeopathy, too, Mrs. Eddy became convinced of the principle of
mind healing, discovering that the more attenuated the drug, the more
potent was its effects.
In 1877 Mrs. Glover married Dr. Asa Gilbert Eddy, of Londonderry,
Vermont, a physician who had come into sympathy with her own views, and
who was the first to place "Christian Scientist," on the sign at his
door. Dr. Eddy died in 1882, a year after her founding of the
"Metaphysical College" in Boston, in which he taught.
The work in the Metaphysical College lasted nine years, and it was
closed (in 1889) in the very zenith of its prosperity as Mrs. Eddy felt
it essential to the deeper foundation of her religious work to retire
from active contact with the world. To this college came hundreds and
hundreds of students, from Europe as well as this country. I was present
at the class lectures now and then by Mrs. Eddy's kind invitation, and
such earnestness of attention as was given to her morning talks by the
men and women present I never saw equalled.
MRS. EDDY'S PERSONALITY.
On the evening that I first met Mrs. Eddy by her hospitable courtesy, I
went to her peculiarly fatigued. I came away in a state of exhilaration
and energy that made me feel I could have walked any conceivable
distance. I have met Mrs. Eddy many times since then, and always with
this experience repeated.
Several years ago Mrs. Eddy removed from Columbus to Commonwealth
avenue, where, just beyond Massachusetts avenue, at the entrance to the
Back Bay Park, she bought one of the most beautiful residences in
Boston. The interior is one of the utmost taste and luxury, and the
house is now occupied by Judge and Mrs. Hanna, who are the editors of
the _Christian Science Journal_, a monthly publication, and to whose
courtesy I am much indebted for some of the data of this paper. "It is a
pleasure to give any information for _The Inter-Ocean_," remarked Mrs.
Hanna, "for it is the great daily that is so fair and so just in its
attitude toward all questions."
The increasing demands of the public on Mrs. Eddy have been, it may be,
one factor in her removal to Concord, N.H., where she has a beautiful
residence, called Pleasant View. Her health is excellent, and although
her hair is white, she retains in a great degree her energy and power;
she takes a daily walk and drives in the afternoon. She personally
attends to a vast correspondence; superintends the church in Boston, and
is engaged on further writings on Christian Science. In every sense she
is the recognized head of the Christian Science Church. At the same time
it is her most earnest aim to eliminate the element of personality from
the faith. "On this point, Mrs. Eddy feels very strongly," said a
gentleman to me on Christmas eve, as I sat in the beautiful drawing
room, where Judge and Mrs. Hanna, Miss Elsie Lincoln, the soprano for
the choir of the new church, and one or two other friends were gathered.
"Mother feels very strongly," he continued, "the danger and the
misfortune of a church depending on any one personality. It is difficult
not to centre too closely around a highly gifted personality."
THE FIRST ASSOCIATION.
The first Christian Scientist Association was organized on July 4, 1876,
by seven persons, including Mrs. Eddy. In April, 1879, the church was
founded with twenty-six members, and its charter obtained the following
June. Mrs. Eddy had preached in other parishes for five years before
being ordained in this church, which ceremony took place in 1881.
The first edition of Mrs. Eddy's book, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, was issued in
1875. During these succeeding twenty years it has been greatly revised
and enlarged, and it is now in its ninety-first edition. It consists of
fourteen chapters, whose titles are as follows: "Science, Theology,
Medicine," "Physiology," "Footsteps of Truth," "Creation," "Science of
Being," "Christian Science and Spiritualism," "Marriage," "Animal
Magnetism," "Some Objections Answered," "Prayer," "Atonement and
Eucharist," "Christian Science Practice," "Teaching Christian Science,"
"Recapitulation." Key to the Scriptures, Genesis, Apocalypse, and
Glossary.
The Christian Scientists do not accept the belief we call spiritualism.
They believe those who have passed the change of death are in so
entirely different a plane of consciousness that between the embodied
and disembodied there is no possibility of communication.
They are diametrically opposed to the philosophy of Karma and of
reincarnation, which are the tenets of theosophy. They hold with strict
fidelity to what they believe to be the literal teachings of Christ.
Yet each and all these movements, however they may differ among
themselves, are phases of idealism and manifestations of a higher
spirituality seeking expression.
It is good that each and all shall prosper, serving those who find in
one form of belief or another their best aid and guidance, and that all
meet on common ground in the great essentials of love to God and love to
man as a signal proof of the divine origin of humanity which finds no
rest until it finds the peace of the Lord in spirituality. They all
teach that one great truth that:
God's greatness flows around our incompleteness,
Round our restlessness, his rest.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
I add on the following page a little poem that I consider superbly
sweet--from my friend, Miss Whiting, the talented author of "THE WORLD
BEAUTIFUL."--M.B. EDDY.
AT THE WINDOW.
[_Written for the Traveller_.]
The sunset, burning low,
Throws o'er the Charles its flood of golden light.
Dimly, as in a dream, I watch the flow
Of waves of light.
The splendor of the sky
Repeats its glory in the river's flow;
And sculptured angels, on the gray church tower,
Gaze on the world below.
Dimly, as in a dream,
I see the hurrying throng before me pass,
But 'mid them all I only see _one_ face
Under the meadow grass.
Ah, love! I only know
How thoughts of you forever cling to me:
I wonder how the seasons come and go
Beyond the sapphire sea?
LILLIAN WHITING.
April 15, 1888.
(_Boston Herald_, January 7, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
A TEMPLE GIVEN TO GOD.--DEDICATION OF THE MOTHER CHURCH OF CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE.
Novel Method of Enabling Six Thousand Believers to Attend the
Exercises--The Service Repeated Four Times--Sermon by Rev. Mary Baker
Eddy, Founder of the Denomination--Beautiful Room Which the Children
Built.
With simple ceremonies, four times repeated, in the presence of four
different congregations, aggregating nearly 6,000 persons, the unique
and costly edifice erected in Boston at Norway and Falmouth streets as a
home for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and a testimonial to the
discoverer and founder of Christian Science, Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, was
yesterday dedicated to the worship of God.
The structure came forth from the hands of the artisans with every stone
paid for--with an appeal, not for more money, but for a cessation of the
tide of contributions which continued to flow in after the full amount
needed was received. From every state in the Union and from many lands,
the love offerings of the disciples of Christian Science came to help
erect this beautiful structure, and more than 4,000 of these
contributors came to Boston from the far-off Pacific coast and the Gulf
states and all the territory that lies between, to view the new-built
temple and to listen to the message sent them by the teacher they
revere.
From all New England the members of the denomination gathered; New York
sent its hundreds, and even from the distant states came parties of 40
and 50. The large auditorium, with its capacity for holding 1,400 or
1,500 persons, was hopelessly incapable of receiving this vast throng,
to say nothing of the nearly 1,000 local believers. Hence the service
was repeated until all who wished had heard and seen; and each of the
four vast congregations filled the church to repletion.
At 7:30 a.m. the chimes in the great stone tower, which rises 126 feet
above the earth, rung out their message of "Peace on earth and good will
to men."
Old familiar hymns--"All Hail the Power of Jesus's Name," and others
such--were chimed until the hour for the dedication service had come.
At 9 a.m. the first congregation gathered. Before this service had
closed the large vestry room and the spacious lobbies and the sidewalks
around the church were all filled with a waiting multitude. At 10:30
o'clock another service began, and at noon still another. Then there was
an intermission, and at 3 p.m. the service was repeated for the last
time.
There was scarcely even a minor variation in the exercises at any one of
these services. At 10:30 a.m., however, the scene was rendered
particularly interesting by the presence of several hundred children in
the central pews. These were the little contributors to the building
fund, whose money was devoted to the "Mother's room," a superb apartment
intended for the sole use of Mrs. Eddy. These children are known in the
church as the "Busy Bees," and each of them wore a white satin badge
with a golden beehive stamped upon it, and beneath the beehive the words
"Mother's Room," in gilt letters.
The pulpit end of the auditorium was rich with the adornment of flowers.
On the wall of the choir gallery above the platform, where the organ is
to be hereafter placed, a huge seven pointed star was hung--a star of
lilies resting on palms, with a centre of white immortelles, upon which
in letters of red were the words: "Love-Children's Offering--1894."
In the choir and the steps of the platform were potted palms and ferns
and Easter lilies. The desk was wreathed with ferns and pure white roses
fastened with a broad ribbon bow. On its right was a large basket of
white carnations resting on a mat of palms, and on its left a vase
filled with beautiful pink roses.
Two combined choirs--that of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, of
New York, and the choir of the home church, numbering thirty-five
singers in all--led the singing, under the direction, respectively, of
Mr. Henry Lincoln Case, and Miss Elsie Lincoln.
Judge S.J. Hanna, editor of the _Christian Science Journal_, presided
over the exercises. On the platform with him were Messrs. Ira O. Knapp,
Joseph Armstrong, Stephen A. Chase, and William B. Johnson, who compose
the board of directors, and Mrs. Henrietta Clark Bemis, a distinguished
elocutionist, and a native of Concord, New Hampshire.
The utmost simplicity marked the exercises. After an organ voluntary,
the hymn, "Laus Deo, It Is Done," written by Mrs. Eddy for the
corner-stone laying last spring, was sung by the congregation.
Selections from the Scriptures and from SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO
THE SCRIPTURES, were read by Judge Hanna and Dr. Eddy.
A few minutes of silent prayer came next, followed by the recitation of
the Lord's prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the
Christian Science text-book.
The sermon prepared for the occasion by Mrs. Eddy, which was looked
forward to as the chief feature of the dedication, was then read by Mrs.
Bemis. Mrs. Eddy remained at her home in Concord, N.H., during the day,
because, as heretofore stated in _The Herald_, it is her custom to
discourage among her followers that sort of personal worship which
religious teachers so often receive.
Before presenting the sermon, Mrs. Bemis read the following letter from
a former pastor of the church:
_Rev. Mary Baker Eddy_--Dear Teacher, Leader,
Guide: Laus Deo. It is done. At last you begin to
see the fruition of that you have worked, toiled,
prayed for. The prayer in stone is accomplished.
Across 2,000 miles of space, as mortal sense puts
it, I send my hearty congratulations. You are
fully occupied, but I thought you would willingly
pause for an instant to receive this brief message
of congratulation. Surely it marks an era in the
blessed onward work of Christian Science. It is a
most auspicious hour in your eventful career.
While we all rejoice, yet the mother in Israel,
alone of us all, comprehends its full significance.
Yours lovingly,
LANSON P. NORCROSS.
(_Boston Sunday Globe_, January 6, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
Stately Home for Believers in Gospel Healing.--A Woman of Wealth Who
Devotes All to Her Church Work.
Christian Science has shown its power over its students, as they are
called, by building a church by voluntary contribution, the first of its
kind, a church which will be dedicated to-day, with a quarter of a
million dollars expended and free of debt.
The money has flowed in from all parts of the United States and Canada
without any special appeal, and it kept coming until the custodian of
funds cried "enough" and refused to accept any further checks by mail or
otherwise. Men, women, and children lent a helping hand, some giving a
mite and some substantial sums. Sacrifices were made in many an instance
which will never be known in this world.
Christian Scientists not only say that they can effect cures of disease
and erect churches, but add that they can get their buildings finished
on time even when the feat seems impossible to mortal senses. Read the
following from a publication of the new denomination:
One of the grandest and most helpful features of
this glorious consummation is this: that one month
before the close of the year every evidence of
material sense declared that the church's completion
within the year 1894 transcended human possibility.
The predictions of workman and onlooker alike were
that it could not be completed before April or May
of 1895.
Much was the ridicule heaped upon the hopeful, trustful ones, who
declared and repeatedly asseverated to the contrary. This is indeed,
then, a scientific demonstration. It has proved, in most striking
manner, the oft-repeated declarations of our text-books, that the
evidence of the mortal senses is unreliable.
A week ago Judge Hanna withdrew from the pastorate of the church, saying
he gladly laid down his responsibilities to be succeeded by the grandest
of ministers--the Bible and "SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE
SCRIPTURES." This action it appears, was the result of rules made by
Mrs. Eddy. The sermons hereafter will consist of passages read from the
two books by readers, who will be elected each year by the congregation.
A story has been abroad that Judge Hanna was so eloquent and magnetic
that he was attracting listeners who came to hear him preach rather than
in search of the truth as taught. Consequently the new rules were
formulated.
But at Christian Science headquarters this is denied; Mrs. Eddy says the
words of the judge speak to the point, and that no such inference is to
be drawn therefrom.
In Mrs. Eddy's personal reminiscences, which are published under the
title of "Retrospection and Introspection," much is told of herself in
detail that can only be touched upon in this brief sketch.
Aristocratic to the backbone, Mrs. Eddy takes delight in going back to
the ancestral tree and in tracing those branches which are identified
with good and great names both in Scotland and England.
Her family came to this country not long before the Revolution. Among
the many souvenirs that Mrs. Eddy remembers as belonging to her
grandparents was a heavy sword, encased in a brass scabbard, upon which
had been inscribed the name of the kinsman upon whom the sword had been
bestowed by Sir William Wallace of mighty Scottish fame.
Mrs. Eddy applied herself, like other girls, to her studies, though
perhaps with an unusual zest, delighting in philosophy, logic, and moral
science, as well as looking into the ancient languages, Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin.
Her last marriage was in the spring of 1877, when, at Lynn, Mass., she
became the wife of Asa Gilbert Eddy. He was the first organizer of a
Christian Science Sunday-School, of which he was the superintendent, and
later he attracted the attention of many clergymen of other denominations
by his able lectures upon scriptural topics. He died in 1882.
Mrs. Eddy is known to her circle of pupils and admirers as the editor
and publisher of the first official organ of this sect. It was called
the _Journal of Christian Science_, and has had great circulation with
the members of this fast-increasing faith.
In recounting her experiences as the pioneer of Christian Science, she
states that she sought knowledge concerning the physical side in this
research through the different schools of allopathy, homeopathy, and so
forth, without receiving any real satisfaction. No ancient or modern
philosophy gave her any distinct statement of the science of mind
healing. She claims that no human reason has been equal to the question.
And she also defines carefully the difference in the theories between
faith cure and Christian Science, dwelling particularly upon the terms
belief and understanding, which are the key words respectively used in
the definitions of these two healing arts.
Besides her Boston home, Mrs. Eddy has a delightful country home one
mile from the state house of New Hampshire's quiet capital, an easy
driving distance for her when she wishes to catch a glimpse of the
world. But for the most part she lives very much retired, driving rather
into the country, which is so picturesque all about Concord and its
surrounding villages.
The big house, so delightfully remodeled and modernized from a primitive
homestead, that nothing is left excepting the angles and pitch of the
roof, is remarkably well placed upon a terrace that slopes behind the
buildings, while they themselves are in the midst of green stretches of
lawns, dotted with beds of flowering shrubs, with here and there a
fountain or summer-house.
Mrs. Eddy took the writer straight to her beloved "lookout"--a broad
piazza on the south side of the second story of the house, where she can
sit in her swinging chair, revelling in the lights and shades of spring
and summer greenness. Or, as just then, in the gorgeous October coloring
of the whole landscape that lies below, across the farm, which stretches
on through an intervale of beautiful meadows and pastures to the woods
that skirt the valley of the little truant river, as it wanders
eastward.
It pleased her to point out her own birthplace. Straight as the crow
flies, from her piazza, does it lie on the brow of Bow hill, and then
she paused and reminded the reporter that Congressman Baker from New
Hampshire, her cousin, was born and bred in that same neighborhood. The
photograph of Hon. Hoke Smith, another distinguished relative, adorned
the mantel.
Then my eye caught her family coat of arms and the diploma given her by
the Society of the Daughters of the Revolution.
The natural and lawful pride that comes with a tincture of blue and
brave blood, is perhaps one of her characteristics, as is many another
well born woman's. She had a long list of worthy ancestors in colonial
and revolutionary days, and the McNeils, and General Knox, figure
largely in her genealogy, as well as the hero who killed the ill-starred
Paugus.
This big, sunny room which Mrs. Eddy calls her den--or sometimes
"mother's room," when speaking of her many followers who consider her
their spiritual leader--has the air of hospitality that marks its
hostess herself. Mrs. Eddy has hung its walls with reproductions of some
of Europe's masterpieces, a few of which had been the gifts of her
loving pupils.
Looking down from the windows upon the tree-tops on the lower terrace,
the reporter exclaimed: "You have lived here only four years, and yet
from a barren waste of most unpromising ground has come forth all this
beauty!"
"Four years!" she ejaculated; "two and a half, only two and a half
years." Then, touching my sleeve and pointing, she continued: "Look at
those big elms! I had them brought here in warm weather, almost as big
as they are now, and not one died."
Mrs. Eddy talked earnestly of her friendships.... She told something
of her domestic arrangements, of how she had long wished to get away
from her busy career in Boston, and return to her native granite hills,
there to build a substantial home that should do honor to that precinct
of Concord.
She chose the stubbly, old farm on the road from Concord within one mile
of the "Eton of America," St. Paul's school. Once bought, the will of
the woman set at work, and to-day a strikingly well kept estate is the
first impression given to the visitor as he approaches Pleasant View.
She employs a number of men to keep the grounds and farm in perfect
order, and it was pleasing to learn that this rich woman is using her
money to promote the welfare of industrious workmen in whom she takes a
vital interest.
Mrs. Eddy believes that "the laborer is worthy of his hire," and,
moreover, that he deserves to have a home and family of his own. Indeed,
one of her motives in buying so large an estate was that she might do
something for the toilers, and thus add her influence toward the
advancement of better home life and citizenship.
(_Boston Transcript_, December 31, 1894.)
EXTRACT.
The growth of Christian Science is properly marked by the erection of a
visible house of worship in this city, which will be dedicated tomorrow.
It has cost $200,000, and no additional sums outside of the
subscriptions are asked for. This particular phase of religious belief
has impressed itself upon a large and increasing number of Christian
people, who have been tempted to examine its principles, and doubtless
have been comforted and strengthened by them. Any new movement will
awaken some sort of interest. There are many who have worn off the
novelty and are thoroughly carried away with the requirements, simple
and direct as they are, of Christian Science. The opposition against it
from the so-called orthodox religious bodies keeps up a while, but after
a little skirmishing, finally subsides. No one religious body holds the
whole of truth, and whatever is likely to show even some one side of it
will gain followers and live down any attempted repression.
Christian Science does not strike all as a system of truth. If it did,
it would be a prodigy. Neither does the Christian faith produce the
same impressions upon all. Freedom to believe or to dissent is a great
privilege in these days. So when a number of conscientious followers
apply themselves to a matter like Christian Science, they are enjoying
that liberty which is their inherent right as human beings, and though
they cannot escape censure, yet they are to be numbered among the many
pioneers who are searching after religious truth. There is really
nothing settled. Every truth is more or less in a state of agitation.
The many who have worked in the mine of knowledge are glad to welcome
others who have different methods, and with them bring different ideas.
It is too early to predict where this movement will go, and how greatly
it will affect the well established methods. That it has produced a
sensation in religious circles, and called forth the implements of
theological warfare, is very well known. While it has done this, it may,
on the other hand, have brought a benefit. Ere this many a new project
in religious belief has stirred up feeling, but as time has gone on,
compromises have been welcomed.
The erection of this temple will doubtless help on the growth of its
principles. Pilgrims from everywhere will go there in search of truth,
and some may be satisfied and some will not. Christian Science cannot
absorb the world's thought. It may get the share of attention it
deserves, but it can only aspire to take its place alongside other great
demonstrations of religious belief which have done something good for
the sake of humanity.
Wonders will never cease. Here is a church whose treasurer has to send
out word that no sums except those already subscribed can be received!
The Christian Scientists have a faith of the mustard-seed variety. What
a pity some of our practical Christian folk have not a faith approximate
to that of these "impractical" Christian Scientists.
(_Jackson Patriot_, Jackson, Mich. January 20, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
The erection of a massive temple in Boston by Christian Scientists, at a
cost of over $200,000, love offerings of the disciples of MARY BAKER
EDDY, reviver of the ancient faith and author of the text-book from
which, with the New Testament at the foundation, believers receive
light, health, and strength, is evidence of the rapid growth of the new
movement. We call it new. It is not. The name Christian Science alone is
new. At the beginning of Christianity it was taught and practiced by
Jesus and his disciples. The Master was the great healer. But the wave
of materialism and bigotry that swept over the world for fifteen
centuries, covering it with the blackness of the Dark Ages, nearly
obliterated all vital belief in his teachings. The Bible was a sealed
book. Recently a revived belief in what he taught is manifest, and
Christian Science is one result. No new doctrine is proclaimed, but
there is the fresh development of a principle that was put into practice
by the founder of Christianity nineteen hundred years ago, though
practiced in other countries at any earlier date. "The thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which
shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun."
The condition which Jesus of Nazareth, on various occasions during the
three years of his ministry on earth, declared to be essential, in the
mind of both healer and patient, is contained in the one word--FAITH.
Can drugs suddenly cure leprosy? When the ten lepers were cleansed and
one returned to give thanks in Oriental phrase, Jesus said to him:
"Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." That was Christian
Science. In his "Law of Psychic Phenomena" Hudson says: "That word, more
than any other, expresses the whole law of human felicity and power in
this world and of salvation in the world to come." It is that attribute
of mind which elevates man above the level of the brute, and gives
dominion over the physical world. It is the essential element of success
in every field of human endeavor. It constitutes the power of the human
soul. When Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed its potency from the hilltops of
Palestine he gave to mankind the key to health and heaven, and earned
the title of "Savior of the World." Whittier, grandest of mystic poets,
saw the truth:
"That healing gift He lends to them
Who use it in His name;
The power that filled his garment's hem
Is evermore the same."
Again, in a poem entitled "The Master," he wrote:
"The healing of his seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch Him in life's throng and press,
And we are whole again."
[Footnote: About 1868, the author of SCIENCE AND HEALTH healed
Mr. Whittier with one visit, at his home in Amesbury, of incipient
pulmonary consumption.--M.B. EDDY.]
That Jesus operated in perfect harmony with natural law, not in
defiance, suppression, or violation of it, we cannot doubt. The
perfectly natural is the perfectly spiritual. Jesus enunciated and
exemplified the principle; and, obviously, the conditions requisite in
psychic healing to-day are the same as were necessary in apostolic
times. We accept the statement of Hudson: "There was no law of nature
violated or transcended. On the contrary, the whole transaction was in
perfect obedience to the laws of nature. He understood the law
perfectly, as no one before him understood it; and in the plentitude of
his power he applied it where the greatest good could be accomplished."
A careful reading of the accounts of his healings, in the light of
modern science, shows that he observed, in his practice of mental
therapeutics, the conditions of environment and harmonious influence
that are essential to success. In the case of Jairus' daughter they are
fully set forth. He kept the unbelievers away, "put them all out," and
permitting only the father and mother, with his closest friends and
followers, Peter, James, and John, in the chamber with him, and having
thus the most perfect obtainable environment, he raised the daughter to
life.
"Not in blind caprice of will,
Not in cunning sleight of skill,
Not for show of power, was wrought
Nature's marvel in Thy thought."
In a previous article we have referred to cyclic changes that came
during the last quarter of preceding centuries. Of our remarkable
nineteenth century not the least eventful circumstance is the advent of
Christian Science. That it should be the work of a woman is the natural
outcome of a period notable for her emancipation from many of the
thraldoms, prejudices, and oppressions of the past. We do not,
therefore, regard it as a mere coincidence that the first edition of
Mrs. Eddy's "SCIENCE AND HEALTH" should have been published in 1875.
Since then she has revised it many times, and the ninety-first edition
is announced. Her discovery was first called "the science of divine
metaphysical healing." Afterward she selected the name Christian
Science. It is based upon what is held to be scientific certainty,
namely,--that all causation is of Mind, every effect has its origin in
desire and thought. The theology--if we may use the word--of Christian
Science is contained in the volume entitled "SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY
TO THE SCRIPTURES."
The present Boston congregation was organized April 19, 1879, and has
now over 4,000 members. It is regarded as the parent organization, all
others being branches, though each is entirely independent in the
management of its own affairs. Truth is the sole recognized authority.
Of actual members of different congregations there are between 100,000
and 200,000. One or more organized societies have sprung up in New York,
Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Detroit, Toledo,
Milwaukee, Madison, Scranton, Peoria, Atlanta, Toronto, and nearly every
other centre of population, besides a large and growing number of
receivers of the faith among the members of all the churches and
non-church-going people. In some churches a majority of the members are
Christian Scientists, and, as a rule, are the most intelligent.
Space does not admit of an elaborate presentation on the occasion of the
erection of the temple, in Boston, the dedication taking place on the
6th of January, of one of the most remarkable, helpful, and powerful
movements of the last quarter of the century. Christian Science has
brought hope and comfort to many weary souls. It makes people better and
happier. Welding Christianity and Science, hitherto divorced because
dogma and truth could not unite, was a happy inspiration.
"And still we love the evil cause,
And of the just effect complain;
We tread upon life's broken laws,
And mourn our self-inflicted pain."
(_The Outlook_, New York, January 19, 1895.)
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH.
A great Christian Science Church was dedicated in Boston on Sunday, the
6th inst. It is located at Norway and Falmouth streets, and is intended
to be a testimonial to the discoverer and founder of Christian Science,
the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy. The building is fireproof, and cost over
$200,000. It is entirely paid for, and contributions for its erection
came from every state in the Union, and from many lands. The auditorium
is said to seat between fourteen and fifteen hundred, and was thronged
at the four services on the day of dedication. The sermon prepared by
Mrs. Eddy was read by Mrs. Bemis. It rehearsed the significance of the
building, and reënunciated the truths which will find emphasis there.
From the description we judge that it is one of the most beautiful
buildings in Boston, and, indeed, in all New England. Whatever may be
thought of the peculiar tenets of the Christian Scientists, and whatever
difference of opinion there may be concerning the organization of such a
church, there can be no question but that the adherents of this church
have proved their faith by their works.
(_American Art Journal_, New York, January 26, 1895.)
"OUR PRAYER IN STONE."
Such is the excellent name given to a new Boston church. Few people
outside its own circles, realize how extensive is the belief in
Christian Science. There are several sects of mental healers, but this
new edifice on Back Bay, just off Huntington avenue, not far from the
big Mechanics building and the proposed site of the new Music hall,
belongs to the followers of Rev. Mary Baker Glover Eddy, a lady born of
an old New Hampshire family, who, after many vicissitudes, found herself
in Lynn, Mass., healed by the power of Divine Mind, and thereupon
devoted herself to imparting this faith to her fellow beings. Coming to
Boston about 1880 she began teaching, gathered an association of
students, and organized a church. For several years past she has lived
in Concord, N.H., near her birthplace, owning a beautiful estate called
Pleasant View; but thousands of believers throughout this country have
joined the Mother Church in Boston and have now erected this edifice at
a cost of over two hundred thousand dollars, every bill being paid.
Its appearance is shown in the pictures we are permitted to publish. In
the belfry is a set of tubular chimes. Inside is a basement room,
capable of division into seven excellent class rooms, by the use of
movable partitions. The main auditorium has wide galleries, and will
seat over a thousand in its exceedingly comfortable pews. Scarcely any
woodwork is to be found. The floors are all mosaic, the steps marble,
and the walls stone. It is rather dark, often too much so for
comfortable reading, as all the windows are of colored glass, with
pictures symbolic of the tenets of the organization. In the ceiling is a
beautiful sunburst window. Adjoining the chancel is a pastor's study;
but for an indefinite time their prime instructor has ordained that the
only pastor shall be the Bible, with her book called "SCIENCE AND HEALTH
WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES." In the tower is a room devoted to her, and
called Mother's Room, furnished with all conveniences for living, should
she wish to make it a home by day or night. Therein is a portrait of her
in stained glass; and an electric light, behind an antique lamp, kept
perpetually burning in her honor; though she has not yet visited her
temple, which was dedicated on New Year's Sunday, in a somewhat novel
way.
There was no special sentence or prayer of consecration; but continuous
services were held from nine to four o'clock, every hour and a half, so
long as there were attendants; and some people heard these exercises
four times repeated. The printed program was for some reason not
followed, certain hymns and psalms being omitted. There was singing by a
choir and congregation. The _pater noster_ was repeated in the way
peculiar to Christian Scientists, the congregation repeating one
sentence and the leader responding with its parallel interpretation by
Mrs. Eddy. Antiphonal paragraphs were read from the book of Revelation
and her work respectively. The sermon, prepared by Mrs. Eddy, was well
adapted for its purpose, and read by a professional elocutionist, not an
adherent of the order, Mrs. Henrietta Clark Bemis, in a clear, emphatic
style. The solo singer, however, was a Scientist, Miss Elsie Lincoln;
and on the platform sat Joseph Armstrong, formerly of Kansas, and now
the business manager of the publication society, with the other members
of the Christian Science Board of Directors--Ira C. Knapp, Edward P.
Bates, Stephen A. Chase,--gentlemen officially connected with the
movement. The children of believing families collected the money for the
Mother Room, and seats were especially set apart for them at the second
dedicatory service. Before one service was over and the auditors left by
the rear doors, the front vestibule and street (despite the snowstorm)
were crowded with others, waiting admission.
On the next Sunday the new order of service went into operation. There
was no address of any sort, no notices, no explanation of Bible or their
text-book. Judge Hanna, who was a Colorado lawyer before coming into
this work, presided, reading in clear, manly, and intelligent tones, the
quarterly Bible lesson, which happened that day to be on Jesus' miracle
of loaves and fishes. Each paragraph he supplemented first with
illustrative Scripture parallels, as set down for him, and then by
passages selected for him from Mrs. Eddy's book. The place was again
crowded, many having remained over a week from among the thousands of
adherents who had come to Boston for this auspicious occasion from all
parts of the country. The organ, made by Farrand & Votey in Detroit, at
a cost of eleven thousand dollars, is the gift of a wealthy Universalist
gentleman, but was not ready for the opening. It is to fill the recess
behind the spacious platform, and is described as containing pneumatic
windchests throughout, and having an æolian attachment. It is of
three-manual compass, C.C.C. to C.4, 61 notes; and pedal compass, C.C.C.
to F.30. The great organ has double open diapason (stopped bass),
open diapason, dulciana, viola di gambi, doppel flute, hohl flute,
octave, octave quint, superoctave, and trumpet,--65 pipes each. The
swell organ has bourdon, open diapason, salicional, æoline, stopped
diapason, gemshorn, flute harmonique, flageolet, cornet--3 ranks,
183,--cornopean, oboe, vox humana--61 pipes each. The choir organ,
enclosed in separate swell-box, has geigen principal, dolce, concert
flute, quintadena, fugara, flute d'amour, piccolo harmonique,
clarinet,--61 pipes each. The pedal organ has open diapson, bourden,
lieblich gedeckt (from stop 10), violoncello-wood,--30 pipes each.
Couplers: swell to great; choir to great; swell to choir; swell to great
octaves, swell to great sub-octaves; choir to great sub-octaves; swell
octaves; swell to pedal; great to pedal; choir to pedal. Mechanical
accessories: swell tremulant, choir tremulant, bellows signal; wind
indicator. Pedal movements: three affecting great and pedal stops, three
affecting swell and pedal stops; great to pedal reversing pedal;
crescendo and full organ pedal; balanced great and choir pedal; balanced
swell pedal.
Beautiful suggestions greet you in every part of this unique church,
which is practical as well as poetic, and justifies the name given by
Mrs. Eddy, which stands at the head of this sketch. J.H.W.
(_Boston Journal_, January 7, 1895.)
CHIMES RANG SWEETLY.
Much admiration was expressed by all those fortunate enough to listen to
the first peal of the chimes in the tower of The First Church of Christ,
Scientist, corner of Falmouth and Norway streets, dedicated yesterday.
The sweet, musical tones attracted quite a throng of people, who
listened with delight.
The chimes were made by the United States Tubular Bell Company, of
Methuen, Mass., and are something of a novelty in this country, though
for some time well and favorably known in the Old Country, especially in
England.
They are a substitution of tubes of drawn brass for the heavy cast bells
of old-fashioned chimes. They have the advantage of great economy of
space, as well as of cost, a chime of fifteen bells not occupying a
space of more than five by eight feet.
Where the old-fashioned chimes required a strong man to ring them, these
can be rung from an electric key board, and even when rung by hand
require but little muscular power to manipulate them, and call forth all
the purity and sweetness of their tones. The quality of tone is
something superb, being rich and mellow. The tubes are carefully tuned,
so that the harmony is perfect. They have all the beauties of a great
Cathedral chime, with infinitely less expense.
There is practically no limit to the uses to which these bells may be
put. They can be called into requisition in theatres, concert halls, and
public buildings, as they range in all sizes, from those described down
to little sets of silver bells that might be placed on a small centre
table.
(_The Republic_, Washington, D.C., February 2, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
Mary Baker Eddy the "Mother" of the Idea.--She Has an Immense Following
Throughout the United States, and a Church Costing $250,000 Was Recently
Built in Her Honor at Boston.
"My faith has the strength to nourish trees as well as souls," was the
remark Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, the "mother" of Christian Science, made
recently as she pointed to a number of large elms that shade her
delightful country home, in Concord, N.H. "I had them brought here in
warm weather almost as big as they are now, and not one died." This is a
remarkable statement, but it is made by a remarkable woman, who has
originated a new phase of religious belief, and who numbers over 100,000
intelligent people among her devoted followers.
The great hold she has upon this army was demonstrated in a very
tangible and material manner recently when "The First Church of Christ,
Scientist," erected at a cost of $250,000, was dedicated in Boston. This
handsome edifice was paid for before it was begun, by the voluntary
contributions of Christian Scientists all over the country, and a tablet
imbedded in its wall declares that it was built as "a testimonial to our
beloved teacher, Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer and founder of
Christian Science, author of its textbook, 'SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY
TO THE SCRIPTURES,' president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical college
and the first pastor of this denomination."
There is usually considerable difficulty in securing sufficient funds
for the building of a new church, but such was not the experience of
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy. Money came freely from all parts of the United
States. Men, women, and children contributed, some giving a pittance,
others donating large sums. When the necessary amount was raised the
custodian of the funds was compelled to refuse further contributions in
order to stop the continued inflow of money from enthusiastic Christian
Scientists.
Mrs. Eddy says she discovered Christian Science in 1866. She studied the
Scriptures and the sciences, she declares, in a search for the great
curative principle. She investigated allopathy, homeopathy, and
electricity, without finding a clew; and modern philosophy gave her no
distinct statement of the science of mind healing. After careful study
she became convinced that the curative principle was the Deity.
(_New York Tribune_, February 7, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
Boston has just dedicated the first church of the Christian Scientists
in commemoration of the founder of that sect, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy,
drawing together 6,000 people to participate in the ceremonies, showing
that belief in that curious creed is not confined to its original
apostles and promulgators, but that it has penetrated what is called the
New England mind to an unlooked-for extent, in inviting the Eastern
churches and the Anglican fold to unity with Rome, the Holy Father
should not overlook the Boston sect of Christian Scientists, which is
rather small and new, to be sure, but is undoubtedly an interesting
faith and may have a future before it, whatever attitude Rome may assume
toward it.
(_Journal_, Kansas City, Mo., January 10, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
GROWTH OF A FAITH.
Attention is directed to the progress which has been made by what is
called Christian Science by the dedication at Boston of "The First
Church of Christ, Scientist." It is a most beautiful structure of gray
granite, and its builders call it their "prayer in stone," which
suggests to recollection the story of the cathedral of Amiens, whose
architectural construction and arrangement of statuary and paintings
made it to be called the Bible of that city. The Frankish church was
reared upon the spot where, in pagan times, one bitter winter day, a
Roman soldier parted his mantle with his sword and gave half of the
garment to a naked beggar; and so was memorialized in art and stone what
was called the divine spirit of giving, whose unbelieving exemplar
afterward became a saint. The Boston church similarly expresses the
faith of those who believe in what they term the divine art of healing,
which, to their minds, exists as much to-day as it did when Christ
healed the sick.
The first church organization of this faith was founded fifteen years
ago with a membership of only twenty-six, and since then the number of
believers has grown with remarkable rapidity, until now, there are
societies in every part of the country. This growth, it is said,
proceeds more from the graveyards than from conversions from other
churches, for most of those who embrace the faith claim to have been
rescued from death miraculously under the injunction to "heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse the leper, and cast out demons." They hold with
strict fidelity to what they conceive to be the literal teachings of the
Bible as expressed in its poetical and highly figurative language.
Altogether the belief and service are well suited to satisfy a taste for
the mystical which, along many lines, has shown an uncommon development
in this country during the last decade, and which is largely Oriental in
its choice. Such a rapid departure from long respected views as is
marked by the dedication of this church, and others of kindred meaning,
may reasonably excite wonder as to how radical is to be this
encroachment upon prevailing faiths, and whether some of the
pre-Christian ideas of the Asiatics are eventually to supplant those in
company with which our civilization has developed.
(_Montreal Daily Herald_ Saturday, February 2, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
Sketch of Its Origin and Growth--The Montreal Branch.
"If you would found a new faith, go to Boston," has been said by a great
American writer. This is no idle word, but a fact borne out by
circumstances. Boston can fairly claim to be the hub of the logical
universe, and an accurate census of the religious faiths which are to be
found there to-day, would probably show a greater number of them than
even Max O'Rells famous enumeration of John Bull's creeds.
Christian Science, or the principle of divine healing, is one of those
movements which seek to give expression to a higher spirituality.
Founded twenty-five years ago, it was still practically unknown a decade
since, but to-day it numbers over a quarter of a million of believers,
the majority of whom are in the United States, and is rapidly growing.
In Canada, also, there is a large number of members. Toronto and
Montreal have strong churches, comparatively, while in many towns and
villages single believers or little knots of them are to be found.
It was exactly 100 years from the date of the Declaration of
Independence, when on July 4, 1876, the first Christian Scientist
Association was organized by seven persons, of whom the foremost was
Mrs. Eddy. The church was founded in April. 1879, with twenty-six
members, and a charter was obtained two months later. Mrs. Eddy assumed
the pastorship of the church during its early years, and in 1881 was
ordained, being now known as the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy.
The Massachusetts Metaphysical College was founded by Mrs. Eddy in 1881,
and here she taught the principles of the faith for nine years. Students
came to it in hundreds from all parts of the world, and many are now
pastors or in practice. The college was closed in 1889, as Mrs. Eddy
felt it necessary for the interests of her religious work to retire from
active contact with the world. She now lives in a beautiful country
residence in her native state.
(_The American_, Baltimore, Md., January 14, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
MRS. EDDY'S DISCIPLES.
It is not generally known that a Christian Science congregation was
organized in this city about a year ago. It now holds regular services
in the parlor of the residence of the pastor, at 1414 Linden avenue. The
dedication in Boston last Sunday of the Christian Science Church, called
the Mother Church, which cost over $200,000, adds interest to the
Baltimore organization. There are many other church edifices in the
United States owned by Christian Scientists. Christian Science was
founded by Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. The Baltimore congregation was
organized at a meeting held at the present location on February 27,
1894.
Dr. Hammond, the pastor, came to Baltimore about three years ago to
organize this movement. Miss Cross came from Syracuse, N.Y., about
eighteen months ago. Both were under the instruction of Mrs. Mary Baker
Eddy, the founder of the movement.
Dr. Hammond says he was converted to Christian Science by being cured by
Mrs. Eddy of a physical ailment some twelve years ago, after several
doctors had pronounced his case incurable. He says they use no
medicines, but rely on Mind for cure, believing that disease comes from
evil and sick-producing thoughts, and that, if they can so fill the mind
with good thoughts as to leave no room there for the bad, they can work
a cure. He distinguishes Christian Science from the faith cure and
added: "This Christian Science really is a return to the ideas of
primitive Christianity. It would take a small book to explain fully all
about it, but I may say that the fundamental idea is that God is Mind,
and we interpret the Scriptures wholly from the spiritual or
metaphysical standpoint. We find in this view of the Bible the power
fully developed to heal the sick. It is not faith cure, but it is an
acknowledgment of certain Christian and scientific laws, and to work a
cure the practitioner must understand these laws aright. The patient may
gain a better understanding than the church has had in the past. All
churches have prayed for the cure of disease, but they have not done so
in an intelligent manner, understanding and demonstrating the
Christ-healing."
(_The Reporter_, Lebanon, Ind., January 18, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
DISCOVERED CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
Remarkable Career of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Who Has Over 100,000
Followers.
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer and founder of Christian Science,
author of its textbook, "SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES,"
president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical college, and first pastor of
the Christian Science denomination, is without doubt one of the most
remarkable women in America. She has within a few years founded a sect
that has over 100,000 converts, and very recently saw completed in
Boston as a testimonial to her labors, a handsome fire proof church that
cost $250,000, and was paid for by Christian Scientists all over the
country.
Mrs. Eddy asserts that in 1866 she became certain that "all causation
was mind and every effect a mental phenomenon." Taking her text from the
Bible, she endeavored in vain to find the great curative principle--the
Deity--in philosophy and schools of medicine, and she concluded that the
way of salvation demonstrated by Jesus was the power of truth over all
error, sin, sickness, and death. Thus originated the divine or spiritual
science of mind healing, which she termed Christian Science. She has a
palatial home in Boston and a country seat in Concord, N.H. The
Christian Science church has a membership of 4,000, and 800 of the
members are Bostonians.
(_N.Y. Commercial Advertiser_, January 9, 1895.)
The idea that Christian Science has declined in popularity is not borne
out by the voluntary contribution of a quarter of a million dollars for
a memorial church for Mrs. Eddy, the inventor of this cure. The money
comes from Christian Science believers exclusively.
(_The Post_, Syracuse, New York, February 1, 1895.)
DO NOT BELIEVE SHE WAS DEIFIED.
Christian Scientists of Syracuse Surprised at the News About Mrs. Mary
Baker Eddy, Founder of the Faith.
Christian Scientists in this city, and in fact all over the country,
have been startled and greatly discomfited over the announcements in
New York papers that Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, the acknowledged
Christian Science leader, has been exalted by various dignitaries of the
faith....
It is well known that Mrs. Eddy has resigned herself completely to the
study and foundation of the faith to which many thousands throughout the
United States are now so entirely devoted. By her followers and
co-believers she is unquestionably looked upon as having a divine
mission to fulfill, and as though inspired in her great task by
supernatural power.
For the purpose of learning the feeling of Scientists in this city
toward the reported deification of Mrs. Eddy, a _Post_ reporter called
upon a few of the leading members of the faith yesterday and had a
number of very interesting conversations upon the subject.
Mrs. D.W. Copeland of University avenue was one of the first to be seen.
Mrs. Copeland is a very pleasant and agreeable lady, ready to converse,
and evidently very much absorbed in the work to which she has given so
much of her attention. Mrs. Copeland claims to have been healed a number
of years ago by Christian Scientists, after she had practically been
given up by a number of well known physicians.
"And for the past eleven years," said Mrs. Copeland, "I have not taken
any medicine or drugs of any kind, and yet have been perfectly well."
In regard to Mrs. Eddy, Mrs. Copeland said that she was the founder of
the faith, but that she had never claimed, nor did she believe that Mrs.
Lathrop had, that Mrs. Eddy had any power other than that which came
from God and through faith in Him and His teachings.
"The power of Christ has been dormant in mankind for ages," added the
speaker, "and it was Mrs. Eddy's mission to revive it. In our labors we
take Christ as an example, going about doing good and healing the sick.
Christ has told us to do His work, naming as one great essential that we
have faith in Him.
"Did you ever hear of Jesus' taking medicine Himself, or giving it to
others?" inquired the speaker. "Then why should we worry ourselves about
sickness and disease? If we become sick God will care for us, and will
send to us those who have faith, who believe in His unlimited and divine
power." Mrs. Eddy was strictly an ardent follower after God. She had
faith in him, and she cured herself of a deathly disease through the
mediation of her God. Then she secluded herself from the world for three
years and studied and meditated over His divine word. She delved deep
into the Biblical passages, and at the end of the period came from her
seclusion one of the greatest Biblical scholars of the age. Her mission
was then the mission of a Christian to do good and heal the sick, and
this duty she faithfully performed. She of herself had no power. But God
has fulfilled His promises to her and to the world. "If ye have faith ye
can move mountains."
Mrs. Henrietta N. Cole is also a very prominent member of the church.
When seen yesterday she emphasized herself as being of the same theory
as Mrs. Copeland. Mrs. Cole has made a careful and searching study in
the beliefs of Scientists and is perfectly versed in all their beliefs
and doctrines. She stated that man of himself has no power, but that all
comes from God. She placed no credit whatever in the reports from New
York that Mrs. Eddy has been accredited as having been deified. She
referred the reporter to the large volume which Mrs. Eddy had herself
written, and said that no more complete and yet concise idea of her
belief could be obtained than by a perusal of it.
(_New York Herald_, February 1, 1895.)
MRS. EDDY SHOCKED.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.]
CONCORD, N.H., February 4, 1895.--The article published in the HERALD on
January 29, regarding a statement made by Mrs. Laura Lathrop, pastor of
the Christian Science congregation, that meets every Sunday in Hodgson
Hall, New York, was shown to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, the Christian Science
"discoverer," to-day.
Mrs. Eddy preferred to prepare a written answer to the interrogatory,
which she did in this letter, addressed to the editor of the HERALD:
"A despatch is given me, calling for an interview to answer for myself,
'Am I the second Christ?'
"Even the question shocks me. What I am is for God to declare in his
infinite mercy. As it is I claim nothing more than what I am, the
discoverer and founder of Christian Science, and the blessing it has
been to mankind which eternity enfolds.
"I think Mrs. Lathrop was not understood. If she said aught with
intention to be thus understood, it is not what I have taught her, and
not at all as I have heard her talk.
"My books and teachings maintain but one conclusion and statement of the
Christ and the deification of mortals.
"Christ is individual, and one with God, in the sense of Divine
Principle and its compound divine idea.
"There was, is and never can be but one God, one Christ, one Jesus of
Nazareth. Whoever in any age expresses most of the spirit of Truth and
Love, the Principle of God's Idea, has most of the spirit of Christ, of
that Mind which was in Christ Jesus.
"If Christian Scientists find in my writings, teachings, and example a
greater degree of this spirit than in others, they can justly declare
it. But to think or speak of me in any manner as a Christ, is
sacrilegious. Such a statement would not only be false, but the absolute
antipode of Christian Science, and would savor more of heathenism, than
of my doctrines.
"MARY BAKER EDDY."
(_The Globe_, Toronto, Canada, January 12, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS.
Dedication to the Founder of the Order of a Beautiful Church at
Boston.--Many Toronto Scientists Present.
The Christian Scientists of Toronto to the number of thirty took part in
the ceremonies at Boston last Sunday and for the day or two following,
by which the members of that faith all over North America celebrated the
dedication of the church constructed in the great New England capital as
a Testimonial to the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, Rev.
Mary Baker Eddy.
The temple is believed to be the most nearly fire-proof church structure
on the continent, the only combustible material used in its construction
being that used in the doors and pews. A striking feature of the church
is a beautiful apartment known as the "Mother's Room," which is
approached through a superb archway of Italian marble set in the wall.
The furnishing of the "Mother's Room" is described as "particularly
beautiful, and blends harmoniously with the pale green and gold
decoration of the walls. The floor is of mosaic in elegant designs, and
two alcoves are separated from the apartment by rich hangings of deep
green plush, which in certain lights has a shimmer of silver. The
furniture frames are of white mahogany in special designs, elaborately
carved, and the upholstery is in white and gold tapestry. A superb
mantel of Mexican onyx with gold decoration adorns the south wall, and
before the hearth is a large rug composed entirely of skins of the
eider-down duck, brought from the Arctic regions. Pictures and
bric-a-brac everywhere suggest the tribute of loving friends. One of the
two alcoves is a retiring room, and the other a lavatory in which the
plumbing is all heavily plated with gold."
(_Evening Monitor_, Concord, N.H., February 27, 1895.)
AN ELEGANT SOUVENIR.
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy Memorialized by a Christian Science Church.
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer of Christian Science, has received from
the members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, an
invitation to formally accept the magnificent new edifice of worship
which the church has just erected.
The invitation itself is one of the most chastely elegant memorials ever
prepared, and is a scroll of solid gold, suitably engraved, and encased
in a handsome plush casket with white silk linings. Attached to the
scroll is a golden key of the church structure.
The inscription reads thus:
DEAR MOTHER: During the year eighteen hundred and ninety-four a church
edifice was erected at the intersection of Falmouth and Norway streets
in the city of Boston, by the loving hands of four thousand members.
This edifice is built as a Testimonial to truth as revealed by divine
Love through you to this age.
You are hereby most lovingly invited to visit and formally accept this
Testimonial on the twentieth day of February, eighteen hundred and
ninety-five at high noon.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Boston, Mass.
By EDWARD P. BATES, CAROLINE S. BATES.
To the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, Boston, January 6th, 1895.
(_People and Patriot_, Concord, N.H., February 27, 1895.)
MAGNIFICENT TESTIMONIAL.
Members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Boston have
forwarded to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy of this city, the founder of Christian
Science, a Testimonial which is probably one of the most magnificent
examples of the goldsmith's art ever wrought in this country. It is in
the form of a gold scroll, twenty-six inches long, nine inches wide, and
an eighth of an inch thick.
It bears upon its face the following inscription cut in script letters:
"Dear Mother,
"During the year 1894, a church edifice was erected at the intersection
of Falmouth and Norway streets in the city of Boston by the loving
hands of four thousand members. This edifice is built as a Testimonial
to truth as revealed by divine Love through you to this age. You are
hereby most lovingly invited to visit and formally accept this
testimonial on the 20th day of February, 1895, at high noon.
"The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Boston, Mass.
"To the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy.
"By Edward P. Bates
"Caroline S. Bates.
"Boston, January 6, 1895."
Attached by a white ribbon to the scroll is a gold key to the church
door.
The testimonial is encased in a white satin lined box of rich green
velvet.
The scroll is on exhibition in the window of J.C. Derby's jewelry
store.
(_The Union Signal_, Chicago.)
EXTRACT.
THE NEW WOMAN AND THE NEW CHURCH.
The dedication, in Boston, of a Christian Science temple costing over
two hundred thousand dollars, and for which the money was all paid in so
that no debt had to be taken care of on dedication day, is a notable
event. While we are not, and never have been, devotees of Christian
Science, it becomes us as students of public questions not to ignore a
movement which starting fifteen years ago has already gained to itself
adherents in every part of the civilized world, for it is a significant
fact that one cannot take up a daily paper in town or village--to say
nothing of cities--'Without seeing notices of Christian Science
meetings, and in most instances they are held at "headquarters."
We believe there are two reasons for this remarkable development, which
has shown a vitality so unexpected. The first is that a revolt was
inevitable from the crass materialism of the cruder science that had
taken possession of men's minds, for as a wicked but witty writer has
said, "If there were no God we should be obliged to invent one." There
is something in the constitution of man that requires the religious
sentiment as much as his lungs call for breath; indeed, the breath of
his soul is a belief in God.
But when Christian Science arose, the thought of the world's scientific
leaders had become materialistically "lopsided," and this condition can
never long continue. There must be a righting-up of the mind as surely
as of a ship when under stress of storm it is ready to capsize. The
pendulum that has swung to one extreme will surely find the other. The
religious sentiment in women is so strong that the revolt was headed by
them; this was inevitable in the nature of the case. It began in the
most intellectual city of the freest country in the world--that is to
say, it sought the line of least resistance. Boston is emphatically the
women's paradise, numerically, socially, indeed, every way. Here they
have the largest individuality, the most recognition, the widest
outlook. Mrs. Eddy we have never seen; her book has many a time been
sent to us by interested friends and out of respect to them we have
fairly broken our mental teeth over its granitic pebbles. That we could
not understand it might be rather to the credit of the book than
otherwise. On this subject we have no opinion to pronounce, but simply
state the fact.
We do not, therefore, speak of the system it sets forth, either to
praise or blame, but this much is true; the spirit of Christian Science
ideas has caused an army of well meaning people to believe in God and
the power of faith, who did not believe in them before. It has made a
myriad of women more thoughtful and devout; it has brought a hopeful
spirit into the homes of unnumbered invalids. The belief that "thoughts
are things," that the invisible is the only real world, that we are here
to be trained into harmony with the laws of God, and that what we are
here determines where we shall be hereafter--all these ideas are
Christian.
The chimes on the Christian Science temple in Boston played "All hail
the power of Jesus' name," on the morning of the dedication. We did not
attend, but we learn that the name of Christ is nowhere spoken with more
reverence than it was during those services, and that He is set forth as
the power of God for righteousness and the express image of God for
love.
(_The New Century_, Boston, February, 1885.)
ONE POINT OF VIEW.--THE NEW WOMAN.
We all know her--she is simply the woman of the past with an added
grace--a newer charm. Some of her dearest ones call her "selfish"
because she thinks so much of herself she spends her whole time helping
others. She represents the composite beauty, sweetness, and nobility of
all those who scorn self for the sake of Love and her handmaiden
Duty--of all those who seek the brightness of truth not as the moth to
be destroyed thereby, but as the lark who soars and sings to the great
sun. She is of those who have so much to give they want no time to take,
and their name is legion. She is as full of beautiful possibilities as a
perfect harp, and she realizes that all the harmonies of the universe
are in herself, while her own soul plays upon magic strings the
unwritten anthems of love. She is the apostle of the true, the
beautiful, the good, commissioned to complete all that the twelve have
left undone. Hers is the mission of missions--the highest of all--to
make the body not the prison, but the palace of the soul, with the brain
for its great white throne.
When she comes like the south wind into the cold haunts of sin and
sorrow her words are smiles and her smiles are the sunlight which heals
the stricken soul. Her hand is tender--but steel tempered with holy
resolve, and as one whom her love had glorified once said--she is soft
and gentle, but you could no more turn her from her course than winter
could stop the coming of spring. She has long learned with patience, and
to-day she knows many things dear to the soul far better than her
teachers. In olden times the Jews claimed to be the conservators of the
world's morals--they treated woman as a chattel, and said that because
she was created after man, she was created solely for man. Too many
still are Jews who never called Abraham "Father," while the Jews
themselves have long acknowledged woman as man's proper helpmeet. In
those days women had few lawful claims and no one to urge them. True,
there were Miriam and Esther, but they sang and sacrificed for their
people, not for their sex. To-day there are ten thousand Esthers, and
Miriams by the million, who sing best by singing most for their own sex.
They are demanding the right to help make the laws, or at least to help
enforce the laws upon which depends the welfare of their husbands, their
children, and themselves. Why should our selfish self longer remain deaf
to their cry? The date is no longer B.C. Might no longer makes right,
and in this fair land at least fear has ceased to kiss the iron heel of
wrong. Why then should we continue to demand woman's love and woman's
help while we recklessly promise as lover and candidate what we never
fulfill as husband and office-holder? In our secret heart our better
self is shamed and dishonored, and appeals from Philip drunk to Philip
sober, but has not yet the moral strength and courage to prosecute the
appeal. But the east is rosy and the sunlight cannot long be delayed.
Woman must not and will not be disheartened by a thousand denials or a
million of broken pledges. With the assurance of faith she prays, with
the certainty of inspiration she works, and with the patience of genius
she waits. At last she is becoming "as fair as the morn, as bright as
the sun, and as terrible as an army with banners" to those who march
under the black flag of oppression and wield the ruthless sword of
injustice.
In olden times it was the Amazons who conquered the invincibles, and we
must look now to their daughters to overcome our own allied armies of
evil and to save us from ourselves. She must and will succeed, for as
David sang--"God shall help her and that right early." When we try to
praise her later works it is as if we would pour incense upon the rose.
It is the proudest boast of many of us that we are "bound to her by
bonds dearer than freedom," and that we live in the reflected royalty
which shines from her brow. We rejoice with her that at last we begin to
know what John on Patmos meant--"And there appeared a great wonder in
Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and
upon her head a crown of twelve stars." She brought to warring men the
Prince of Peace, and He, departing, left His scepter not in her hand,
but in her soul. "The time of times" is near when "the new woman" shall
subdue the whole earth with the weapons of peace. Then shall wrong be
robbed of her bitterness and ingratitude of her sting; revenge shall
clasp hands with pity, and love shall dwell in the tents of hate, while
side by side, equal partners in all that is worth living for, shall
stand the new man with the new woman.
(_Christian Science Journal_, January, 1895.)
EXTRACT.
THE MOTHER CHURCH.
The Mother Church edifice--The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston, is erected. The close of the year Anno Domini, 1894, witnessed
the completion of "our Prayer in Stone," all predictions and
prognostications to the contrary notwithstanding.
Of the significance of this achievement we shall not undertake to speak
in this article. It can be better felt than expressed. All who are awake
thereto have some measure of understanding of what it means. But only
the future will tell the story of its mighty meaning or unfold it to the
comprehension of mankind. It is enough for us now to know that all
obstacles to its completion have been met and overcome, and that our
temple is completed as God intended it should be.
This achievement is the result of long years of untiring, unselfish, and
zealous effort on the part of our beloved Teacher and Leader, the
Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian
Science, who nearly thirty years ago began to lay the foundation of this
temple, and whose devotion and consecration to God and humanity during
the intervening years have made its erection possible.
Those who now, in part, understand her mission, turn their hearts in
gratitude to her for her great work, and those who do not understand it
will, in the fulness of time, see and acknowledge it. In the measure in
which she has unfolded and demonstrated Divine Love and built up in
human consciousness a better and higher conception of God as Life,
Truth, and Love,--as the Divine Principle of all things which really
exist,--and in the degree in which she has demonstrated the system of
healing of Jesus and the Apostles, surely she, as the one chosen of God
to this end, is entitled to the gratitude and love of all who desire a
better and grander humanity, and who believe it to be possible to
establish the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth in accordance with the prayer
and teachings of Jesus Christ.
(_Concord Evening Monitor_, March 23, 1895.)
TESTIMONIAL AND GIFT.
To Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, from The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston.
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy received Friday, from the Christian Science board
of directors, Boston, a beautiful and unique testimonial of the
appreciation of her labors and loving generosity in the cause of their
common faith. It was a facsimile of the corner-stone of the new church
of the Christian Scientists, just completed, being of granite, about six
inches in each dimension, and contains a solid gold box, upon the cover
of which is this inscription:
"To our Beloved Teacher, the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and
Founder of Christian Science, from her affectionate Students, the
Christian Science Board of Directors." On the under side of the cover
are the facsimile signatures of the directors, Ira O. Knapp, William B.
Johnson, Joseph Armstrong, and Stephen A. Chase, with the date, "1895."
The beautiful souvenir is encased in an elegant plush box.
Accompanying the stone testimonial was the following address from the
board of directors:
BOSTON, March 20, 1895.
To the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, our beloved teacher and leader:
We are happy to announce to you the completion of The First Church of
Christ, Scientist, in Boston.
In behalf of your loving students and all contributors wherever they may
be, we hereby present this church to you as a testimonial of love and
gratitude for your labors and loving sacrifice, as the discoverer and
founder of Christian Science, and the author of its text-book, "SCIENCE
AND HEALTH WITH KEY To THE SCRIPTURES."
We therefore respectfully extend to you the invitation to become the
permanent pastor of this church, in connection with the Bible, and the
Book alluded to above, which you have already ordained as our pastor.
And we most cordially invite you to be present and take charge of any
services that may be held therein. We especially desire you to be
present on the twenty-fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and
ninety-five, to accept this offering, with our humble benediction.
Lovingly yours,
IRA O. KNAPP,
WILLIAM B. JOHNSON,
JOSEPH ARMSTRONG,
STEPHEN A. CHASE,
_The Christian Science Board of Directors_.
REV. MRS. EDDY'S REPLY.
BELOVED DIRECTORS AND BRETHREN:--
For your costly offering, and kind call to the pastorate of "The First
Church of Christ, Scientist," in Boston--accept my profound thanks. But
permit me, respectfully, to decline their acceptance, while I fully
appreciate your kind intentions.-If it will comfort you in the least,
make me your Pastor _Emeritus_, nominally. Through my book, your
text-book, I already speak to you each Sunday. You ask too much when
asking me to accept your grand Church edifice. I have more of earth now,
than I desire, and less of heaven; so pardon my refusal of that as a
material offering. More effectual than the forum are our states of mind,
to bless mankind. This wish stops not with my pen--God give you grace.
As our Church's tall tower detains the sun, so, may luminous lines from
your lives, linger, a legacy to our race.
MARY BAKER EDDY.
March 25, 1895.
From Canada to New Orleans, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean,
the author has received leading newspapers with uniformly kind and
interesting articles on the dedication of the Mother church. They were,
however, too voluminous for these pages. Those were copied, and she
could append only a few of the names of other prominent newspapers whose
articles were reluctantly omitted.
LIST OF LEADING NEWSPAPERS WHOSE ARTICLES ARE OMITTED.
EASTERN STATES.
_Advertiser_, Calais, Me.
_Advertiser_, Boston, Mass.
_Farmer_, Bridgeport, Conn.
_Independent_, Rockland, Mass.
_Kennebec Journal_, Augusta, Me.
_News_, New Haven, Conn.
_News_, Newport, R.I.
_Post_, Boston, Mass.
_Post_, Hartford, Conn.
_Republican_, Springfield, Mass.
_Sentinel_, Eastport, Me.
_Sun_, Attleboro, Mass.
MIDDLE STATES.
_Advertiser_, New York City.
_Bulletin_, Auburn, N.Y.
_Daily_, York, Pa.
_Enquirer_, Philadelphia, Pa.
_Evening Reporter_, Lebanon, Pa.
_Farmer_, Bridgeport, N.Y.
_Herald_, Rochester, N.Y.
_Independent_, Harrisburg, Pa.
_Independent_, New York City.
_Journal_, Lockport, N.Y.
_Knickerbocker_, Albany, N.Y.
_News_, Buffalo, N.Y.
_News_, Newark, N.J.
_Once A Week_, New York City.
_Post_, Pittsburg, Pa.
_Press_, Albany, N.Y.
_Press_, New York City.
_Press_, Philadelphia, Pa.
_Saratogian_, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
_Sun_, New York City.
_Telegram_, Philadelphia, Pa.
_Telegram_, Troy, N.Y.
_Times_, Trenton, N.J.
SOUTHERN STATES.
_Commercial_, Louisville, Ky.
_Journal_, Atlanta, Ga.
_Post_, Washington, D.C.
_Telegram_, New Orleans, La.
_Times_, New Orleans, La.
_Times-Herald,_ Dallas, Tex.
WESTERN STATES.
_Bee_, Omaha, Neb.
_Bulletin_, San Francisco, Cal.
_Chronicle_, San Francisco, Cal.
_Mite_, Chicago, Ill.
_Enquirer_, Oakland, Cal.
_Free Press_, Detroit, Mich.
_Gazette_, Burlington, Iowa.
_Herald_, Grand Rapids, Mich.
_Herald_, St. Joseph, Mo.
_Journal_, Columbus, Ohio.
_Journal_, Topeka, Kans.
_Leader_, Bloomington, Ill.
_Leader_, Cleveland, Ohio.
_News_, St. Joseph, Mo.
_News-Tribune,_ Duluth, Minn.
_Pioneer-Press,_ St. Paul, Minn.
_Post-Intelligencer,_ Seattle, Wash.
_Salt Lake Herald_, Salt Lake City, Utah.
_Sentinel_, Indianapolis, Ind.
_Sentinel_, Milwaukee, Wis.
_Star_, Kansas City, Mo.
_Telegram_, Portland, Ore.
_Times_, Chicago, Ill.
_Times_, Minneapolis, Minn.
_Tribune_, Minneapolis, Minn.
_Tribune_, Salt Lake City, Utah.
_Free Press_, London, Can.
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