Pulpit and Press Part 8

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, Ma.s.s.

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, Ma.s.s.

"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 cra.s.s 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 G.o.d we should be obliged to invent one." There is something in the const.i.tution 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 G.o.d.

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 p.r.o.nounce, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d for righteousness and the express image of G.o.d 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 n.o.bility 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 s.e.x. To-day there are ten thousand Esthers, and Miriams by the million, who sing best by singing most for their own s.e.x.