0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 16 – The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany – Chpt 8 – Dedicatory Messages to Branch Churches

                  Chapter VIII 

  	DEDICATORY MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES

 1	                FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                       CHICAGO, ILL.
                        
3	    Beloved Brethren: — Most happily would I com-
  	ply with your cordial invitation and be with you on
  	so interesting an occasion as the dedication of First
 6	Church of Christ, Scientist, in Chicago. But daily duties
  	require attention elsewhere, and I am glad to say that
  	there seems to be no special need of my personal pres-
 9	ence at your religious jubilee. I am quite able to take
  	the trip to your city, and if wisdom lengthens my  sum
  	of years to fourscore (already imputed to me), I shall
12	then be even younger and nearer the eternal meridian
  	than now, for the true knowledge and proof of life is in
  	putting off the limitations and putting on the possibilities
15	and permanence of Life. 
  	    In your renowned city, the genesis of Christian Science
  	was allied to that olden axiom: "The blood of the martyrs
18	is the seed of the Church;" but succeeding years show in
  	livid lines that the great Shepherd has nurtured and
  	nourished this church as a fatling of the flock. To-day
21	the glory of His presence rests upon it, the joy of many
  	generations awaits it, and this prophecy of Isaiah is
  	fulfilled among you: "I will direct their work in truth,
 
                                                          Miscellany                                   178


1	    Your Bible and your textbook, pastor and ethical
  	tenets, do not mislead the seeker after Truth. These
 3	unpretentious preachers cloud not the spiritual meaning
  	of Holy Writ by material interpretations, nor lose the
  	invincible process and purity of Christianity whereby
 6	the sick are healed and sinners saved. The Science of
  	Christianity is not generally understood, but it hastens
  	hourly to this end. This Science is the essence of religion,
 9	distilled in the laboratory of infinite Love and prepared
  	for all peoples. And because Science is naturally divine,
  	is this natural Science less profitable or scientific than
12	"counting the legs of insects"? The Scripture declares
  	that God is All. Then all is Spirit and spiritual. The
  	true sense of life is lost to those who regard being
15	as material. The Scripture pronounces all that God
  	made "good;" therefore if evil exists, it exists without
  	God. But this is impossible in reality, for He made
18	all "that was made." Hence the inevitable revelation
  	of Christian Science — that evil is unreal; and this is
  	the best of it. 
21	    On April 15, 1891, the Christian Science textbook lay
  	on a table in a burning building. A Christian Scientist
  	entered the house through a window and snatched this
24	book from the flames. Instantly the table sank a charred
  	mass. The covers of the book were burned up, but not
  	one word in the book was effaced. If the world were in
27	ashes, the contents of "Science and Health with Key to
  	the Scriptures" would remain immortal. 
  	    It is said that the nearest approach to the sayings of
30	the great Master is the Logia of Papias, written in A. D. 
  	145, and that all else reported as his sayings are transla-
  	tions. The ancient Logia, or imputed sayings of Jesus
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 179


1	by Papias, are undoubtedly the beginning of the gospel
  	writings. The synoptic Scriptures, as set forth in the
 3	first and second chapters of Genesis, were in two dis-
  	tinct manuscripts. The first gave an account of the
  	spiritual creation, and the second was an opposite story,
 6	or allegory, of a material universe and man made of
  	dust. In this allegorical document the power and pre-
  	rogative of Spirit are submerged in matter. In other
 9	words, soul enters non-intelligent dust and man becomes
  	both good and evil, both mind and matter, mortal and
  	immortal, — all of which divine Science shows to be an
12	impossibility. 
  	    The Old and the New Testaments contain self-evident
  	truths that cannot be lost, but being translations, the
15	Scriptures are criticized. Some dangerous skepticism ex-
  	ists as to the verification of our Master's sayings. But
  	Christians and Christian Scientists know that if the Old
18	Testament and gospel narratives had never been written,
  	the nature of Christianity, as depicted in the life of our
  	Lord, and the truth in the Scriptures, are sufficient to au-
21	thenticate Christ's Christianity as the perfect ideal. The
  	character of the Nazarene Prophet illustrates the Prin-
  	ciple and practice of a true divinity and humanity. The
24	different renderings or translations of Scripture in no
  	wise affect Christian Science. Christianity and Science,
  	being contingent on nothing written and based on the
27	divine Principle of being, must be, are, irrefutable and
  	eternal. 
  	    We are indeed privileged in having the untranslated
30	revelations of Christian Science. They afford such expo-
  	sitions of the therapeutics, ethics, and Christianity of
  	Christ as make even God demonstrable, the divine Love
 
                                                          Miscellany                                   180


 1	practical, and so furnish rules whereby man can prove
  	God's love, healing the sick and the sinner. 
 3	    Whosoever understands Christian Science knows beyond
  	a doubt that its life-giving truths were preached and
  	practised in the first century by him who proved their
 6	practicality, who uttered Christ's Sermon on the Mount,
  	who taught his disciples the healing Christianity which
  	applies to all ages, and who dated time. A spiritual
 9	understanding of the Scriptures restores their origi-
  	nal tongue in the language of Spirit, that primordial
  	standard of Truth. 
12	    Christian Science contains no element whatever of hyp-
  	notism or animal magnetism. It appeals alone to God, to
  	the divine Principle, or Life, Truth, and Love, to whom
15	all things are possible; and this Principle heals sin, sick-
  	ness, disease, and death. Christian Science meets error
  	with Truth, death with Life, hate with Love, and thus,
18	and only thus, does it overcome evil and heal disease. 
  	The obstinate sinner, however, refuses to see this grand
  	verity or to acknowledge it, for he knows not that in justice,
21	as well as in mercy, God is Love. 
  	    In our struggles with sin and sinners, when we drop
  	compliance with their desires, insist on what we know is
24	right, and act accordingly, the disguised or the self-
  	satisfied mind, not ready to be uplifted, rebels, miscon-
  	strues our best motives, and calls them unkind. But this
27	is the cross. Take it up, — it wins the crown; and in
  	the spirit of our great Exemplar pray: "Father, forgive
  	them; for they know not what they do." 
30	    No warfare exists between divine theology and Christian
  	Science, for the latter solves the whence and why of the
  	cosmos and defines noumenon and phenomena spiritually,
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 181


 1	not materially. The specific quest of Christian Science is
  	to settle all points beyond cavil, on the Biblical basis that
 3	God is All-in-all; whereas philosophy and so-called natural
  	science, dealing with human hypotheses, or material cause
  	and effect, are aided only at long intervals with elementary
 6	truths, and ultimate in unsolved problems and outgrown,
  	proofless positions. 
  	    Progress is spiritual. Progress is the maturing concep-
 9	tion of divine Love; it demonstrates the scientific, sinless
  	life of man and mortal's painless departure from matter
  	to Spirit, not through death, but through the true idea of
12	Life, — and Life not in matter but in Mind. 
  	    The Puritans possessed the motive of true religion,
  	which, demonstrated on the Golden Rule, would have
15	solved ere this the problem of religious liberty and human
  	rights. It is "a consummation devoutly to be wished"
  	that all nations shall speedily learn and practise the
18	intermediate line of justice between the classes and masses
  	of mankind, and thus exemplify in all things the universal
  	equity of Christianity. 
21	    Thirty years ago (1866) Christian Science was discovered
  	in America. Within those years it is estimated that
  	Chicago has gained from a population of 238,000 to the
24	number of 1,650,000 inhabitants. 
  	    The statistics of mortality show that thirty years ago
  	the death-rate was at its maximum. Since that time it
27	has steadily decreased. It is authentically said that one
  	expositor of Daniel's dates fixed the year 1866 or 1867 for
  	the return of Christ — the return of the spiritual idea to
30	the material earth or antipode of heaven. It is a marked
  	coincidence that those dates were the first two years of
  	my discovery of Christian Science. 
 
                                                          Miscellany                                   182


 1	    Thirty years ago Chicago had few Congregational
  	churches. To-day it is said to have a majority of these
 3	churches over any other city in the United States. Thirty
  	years ago at my request I received from the Congrega-
  	tional Church a letter of dismissal and recommendation
 6	to evangelical churches — thenceforth to exemplify my
  	early love for this church and a membership of thirty
  	years by establishing a new-old church, the foundations
 9	of which are the same, even Christ, Truth, as the chief
  	corner-stone. 
  	    In 1884, I taught a class in Christian Science and
12	formed a Christian Scientist Association in Chicago. 
  	From this small sowing of the seed of Truth, which, when
  	sown, seemed the least among seeds, sprang immortal
15	fruits through God's blessing and the faithful labor of
  	loyal students, — the healing of the sick, the reforming
  	of the sinner, and First Church of Christ, Scientist, with
18	its large membership and majestic cathedral. 
  	    Humbly, gratefully, trustingly, I dedicate this beauti-
  	ful house of worship to the God of Israel, the divine
21	Love that reigns above the shadow, that launched the
  	earth in its orbit, that created and governs the universe — 
  	guarding, guiding, giving grace, health, and immortality
24	to man. 
  	    May the wanderer in the wilderness of mortal beliefs
  	and fears turn hither with satisfied hope. May the birds
27	of passage rest their weary wings amid the fair foliage of
  	this vine of His husbanding, find shelter from the storm
  	and a covert from the tempest. May this beloved
30	church adhere to its tenets, abound in the righteousness
  	of Love, honor the name of Christian Science, prove the
  	practicality of perfection, and press on to the infinite
  
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 183


1	uses of Christ's creed, namely, — "Thou shalt love the
  	Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
 3	and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and
  	thy neighbor as thyself." Thus may First Church of
  	Christ, Scientist, in this great city of Chicago, verify what
 6	John Robinson wrote in 1620 to our Pilgrim Fathers:
  	"When Christ reigns, and not till then, will the world
  	have rest." 


 9	             FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                    LONDON, ENGLAND 

  	    Beloved Brethren across the Sea: — To-day a nation is
12	born. Spiritual apprehension unfolds, transfigures, heals. 
  	With you be there no more sea, no ebbing faith, no night. 
  	Love be thy light upon the mountain of Israel. God
15	will multiply thee. 


  	            FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                    BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

18	    Beloved Brethren: — I rejoice with you; the day has
  	come when the forest becomes a fruitful field, and the deaf
  	hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind see
21	out of obscurity. 


  	            FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                     DETROIT, MICH. 

24	    Beloved Students and Church: — Thanks for invitation
  	to your dedication. Not afar off I am blending with
  	thine my prayer and rejoicing. God is with thee. "Arise,
27	shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is
  	risen upon thee." 

 
                                                          Miscellany                                   184


 1	                   FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                       TORONTO, CANADA 

 3	    My Beloved Brethren: — Have just received your des-
  	patch. Since the world was, men have not heard with
  	the ear, neither hath the eye seen, what God hath prepared
 6	for them that wait upon Him and work righteousness. 


  	                         WHITE MOUNTAIN CHURCH 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — To-day I am privileged to
 9	congratulate the Christian Scientists of my native State
  	upon having built First Church of Christ, Scientist, at
  	the White Mountains. Your kind card, inviting me to
12	be present at its dedication, came when I was so occu-
  	pied that I omitted to wire an acknowledgment thereof
  	and to return my cordial thanks at an earlier date. The
15	beautiful birch bark on which it was written pleased me;
  	it was so characteristic of our Granite State, and I
  	treasure it next to your compliments. That rustic scroll
18	brought back to me the odor of my childhood, a love
  	which stays the shadows of years. God grant that this
  	little church shall prove a historic gem on the glowing
21	records of Christianity, and lay upon its altars a sacrifice
  	and service acceptable in God's sight. 
  	    Your rural chapel is a social success quite sacred in its
24	results. The prosperity of Zion is very precious in the
  	sight of divine Love, holding unwearied watch over a
  	world. Isaiah said: "How beautiful upon the mountains
27	are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, . . . that
  	saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" Surely, the Word
  	that is God must at some time find utterance and accept-
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 185


 1	ance throughout the earth, for he that soweth shall reap. 
  	To such as have waited patiently for the appearing of
 3	Truth, the day dawns and the harvest bells are ringing. 
           
  	                          "Let us, then, be up and doing,
  	                             With a heart for any fate;
 6	                          Still achieving, still pursuing,
  	                             Learn to labor and to wait." 


  	    The peace of Love is published, and the sword of the
 9	Spirit is drawn; nor will it be sheathed till Truth shall
  	reign triumphant over all the earth. Truth, Life, and
  	Love are formidable, wherever thought, felt, spoken, or
12	written, — in the pulpit, in the court-room, by the way-
  	side, or in our homes. They are the victors never to be
  	vanquished. Love is the generic term for God. Love
15	formed this trinity, Truth, Life, Love, the trinity no man
  	can sunder. Life is the spontaneity of Love, inseparable
  	from Love, and Life is the "Lamb slain from the foun-
18	dation of the world," — even that which "was dead, and
  	is alive again; and was lost, and is found;" for Life is
  	Christ, and Christ, as aforetime, heals the sick, saves
21	sinners, and destroys the last enemy, death. 
  	    In 1888 I visited these mountains and spoke to an
  	attentive audience collected in the hall at the Fabyan
24	House. Then and there I foresaw this hour, and spoke
	of the little church to be in the midst of the mountains,
  	closing my remarks with the words of Mrs. Hemans: — 

27	                  For the strength of the hills, we bless Thee,
  	                               Our God, our fathers' God! 


  	    The sons and daughters of the Granite State are rich in
30	signs and symbols, sermons in stones, refuge in mountains,
 
                                                          Miscellany                                   186


 1	and good universal. The rocks, rills, mountains, meadows,
  	fountains, and forests of our native State should be
 3	prophetic of the finger divine that writes in living char-
  	acters their lessons on our lives. May God's little ones
  	cluster around this rock-ribbed church like tender nestlings
 6	in the crannies of the rocks, and preen their thoughts for
  	upward flight. 
  	    Though neither dome nor turret tells the tale of your
 9	little church, its song and sermon will touch the heart,
  	point the path above the valley, up the mountain, and on
  	to the celestial hills, echoing the Word welling up from
12	the infinite and swelling the loud anthem of one Father-
  	Mother God, o'er all victorious! Rest assured that He
  	 in whom dwelleth all life, health, and holiness, will supply
15	all your needs according to His riches in glory. 


  	          FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                    DULUTH, MINN. 

18	    First Church of Christ, Scientist, Duluth, Minn.: — May
  	our God make this church the fold of flocks, and may
  	those that plant the vineyard eat the fruit thereof. Here
21	let His promise be verified: "Before they call, I will
  	answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." 


  	           FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
24	                           SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 

  	    Beloved Brethren: — Accept my thanks for your cordial
  	card inviting me to be with you on the day of your church
27	dedication. It gives me great pleasure to know that
  	you have erected a Church of Christ, Scientist, in your
  
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 187


1	city. Surely, your fidelity, faith, and Christian zeal
  	fairly indicate that, spiritually as well as literally, the
 3	church in Salt Lake City hath not lost its saltness. I
  	may at some near future visit your city, but am too busy
  	to think of doing so at present. 
 6	    May the divine light of Christian Science that lighteth
  	every enlightened thought illumine your faith and under-
  	standing, exclude all darkness or doubt, and signal the
 9	perfect path wherein to walk, the perfect Principle whereby
  	to demonstrate the perfect man and the perfect law of
  	God. In the words of St. Paul: "Now the end of the
12	commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a
  	good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;" and St. John
  	says: "For this is the message that ye heard from the
15	beginning, that we should love one another." 
  	    May the grace and love of God be and abide with
  	you all. 

18	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
  	               November 16, 1898 


  	            FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
21	                                 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — You have met to conse-
  	crate your beautiful temple to the worship of the only
24	true God. Since the day in which you were brought into
  	the light and liberty of His children, it has been in the
  	hearts of this people to build a house unto Him whose
27	name they would glorify in a new commandment — 
  	"that ye love one another." In this new recognition of
  	the riches of His love and the majesty of His might you
30	have built this house — laid its foundations on the rock
  
                                                          Miscellany                                   188


1	of Christ, and the stone which the builders rejected you
  	have made the head of the corner. This house is hallowed
 3	by His promise: "I have hallowed this house, which thou
  	hast built, to put my name there forever; and mine eyes
  	and mine heart shall be there perpetually." "Now mine
 6	eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer
  	that is made in this place." Your feast days will not be
  	in commemoration, but in recognition of His presence;
 9	your ark of the covenant will not be brought out of the
  	city of David, but out of "the secret place of the most
  	High," whereof the Psalmist sang, even the omniscience
12	of omnipotence; your tabernacle of the congregation will
  	not be temporary, but a "house not made with hands,
  	eternal in the heavens;" your oracle, under the wings of
15	the cherubim, is Truth's evangel, enunciating, "God is
  	Love." 
  	    In spirit I enter your inner sanctuary, your heart's
18	heart, breathing a benediction for God's largess. He
  	surely will not shut me out from your presence, and the
  	ponderous walls of your grand cathedral cannot prevent
21	me from entering where the heart of a Southron has
  	welcomed me. 
  	    Christian Science has a place in its court, in which, like
24	beds in hospitals, one man's head lies at another's feet. 
  	As you work, the ages win; for the majesty of Christian
  	Science teaches the majesty of man. When it is learned
27	that spiritual sense and not the material senses convey all
  	impressions to man, man will naturally seek the Science of
  	his spiritual nature, and finding it, be God-endowed for
30	discipleship. 
  	    When divine Love gains admittance to a humble heart,
  	that individual ascends the scale of miracles and meets the
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 189


 1	warmest wish of men and angels. Clad in invincible
  	armor, grasping the sword of Spirit, you have started in
 3	this sublime ascent, and should reach the mount of revela-
  	tion; for if ye would run, who shall hinder you? So dear,
  	so due, to God is obedience, that it reaches high heaven
 6	in the common walks of life, and it affords even me a
  	perquisite of joy. 
  	    You worship no distant deity, nor talk of unknown
 9	love. The silent prayers of our churches, resounding
  	through the dim corridors of time, go forth in waves of
  	sound, a diapason of heart-beats, vibrating from one
12	pulpit to another and from one heart to another, till
  	truth and love, commingling in one righteous prayer,
  	shall encircle and cement the human race. 
15	    The government of divine Love derives its omnipotence
  	from the love it creates in the heart of man; for love is
  	allegiant, and there is no loyalty apart from love. When
18	the human senses wake from their long slumber to see how
  	soon earth's fables flee and faith grows wearisome, then
  	that which defies decay and satisfies the immortal cravings
21	is sought and found. In the twilight of the world's
  	pageantry, in the last-drawn sigh of a glory gone, we are
  	drawn towards God. 
24	    Beloved brethren, I cannot forget that yours is the first
  	church edifice of our denomination erected in the sunny
  	South — once my home. There my husband died, and
27	the song and the dirge, surging my being, gave expression
  	to a poem written in 1844, from which I copy this verse: — 

  	                        Friends, why throng in pity round me? 
30	                          Wherefore, pray, the bell did toll? 
  	                        Dead is he who loved me dearly:
  	                          Am I not alone in soul? 

 
                                                          Miscellany                                   190


1	    Did that midnight shadow, falling upon the bridal
  	wreath, bring the recompense of human woe, which is the
 3	merciful design of divine Love, and so help to evolve that
  	larger sympathy for suffering humanity which is eman-
  	cipating it with the morning beams and noonday glory of
 6	Christian Science? 
  	    The age is fast answering this question:  Does Christian
  	Science equal materia medica in healing the worst forms
 9	of contagious and organic diseases? My experience in
  	both practices — materia medica and the scientific meta-
  	physical practice of medicine — shows the latter not only
12	equalling but vastly excelling the former. 
  	    Christians who accept our Master as authority, regard
  	his sayings as infallible. Jesus' students, failing to cure a
15	severe case of lunacy, asked their great Teacher, "Why
  	could not we cast him out?" He answered, "This kind
  	goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." This declara-
18	tion of our Master, as to the relative value, skill, and
  	certainty of the divine laws of Mind over the human
  	mind and above matter in healing disease, remains beyond
21	questioning a divine decision in behalf of Mind. 
  	    Jesus gave his disciples (students) power over all manner
  	of diseases; and the Bible was written in order that all
24	peoples, in all ages, should have the same opportunity to
  	become students of the Christ, Truth, and thus become
  	God-endued with power (knowledge of divine law) and
27	with "signs following." Jesus declared that his teaching
  	and practice would remain, even as it did, "for them also
  	which shall believe on me through their word." Then,
30	in the name of God, wherefore vilify His prophets to-day
  	who are fulfilling Jesus' prophecy and verifying his last
  	promise, "Lo, I am with you alway"? It were well for
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 191


 1	the world if there survived more of the wisdom of Nico-
  	demus of old, who said, "No man can do these miracles
 3	that thou doest, except God be with him." 
  	    Be patient towards persecution. Injustice has not a
  	tithe of the power of justice. Your enemies will advertise
 6	for you. Christian Science is spreading steadily through-
  	out the world. Persecution is the weakness of tyrants
  	engendered by their fear, and love will cast it out. Con-
 9	tinue steadfast in love and good works. Children of
  	light, you are not children of darkness. Let your light
  	shine. Keep in mind the foundations of Christian
12	Science — one God and one Christ. Keep personality
  	out of sight, and Christ's "Blessed are ye" will seal your
  	apostleship. 
15	    This glad Easter morning witnesseth a risen Saviour, a
  	higher human sense of Life and Love, which wipes away
  	all tears. With grave-clothes laid aside, Christ, Truth, has
18	come forth from the tomb of the past, clad in immortality. 
  	The sepulchres give up their dead. Spirit is saying unto
  	matter:  I am not there, am not within you. Behold the
21	place where they laid me; but human thought has risen! 
  	    Mortality's thick gloom is pierced. The stone is rolled
  	away. Death has lost its sting, and the grave its victory. 
24	Immortal courage fills the human breast and lights the
  	living way of Life. 


  	      SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
27	                                   CHICAGO, ILL. 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — Your card of invitation to this
  	feast of soul — the dedication of your church — was duly
30	received. Accept my thanks. 
 
                                                          Miscellany                                   192


 1	    Ye sit not in the idol's temple. Ye build not to an
  	unknown God. Ye worship Him whom ye serve. Boast
 3	not thyself, thou ransomed of divine Love, but press on
  	unto the possession of unburdened bliss. Heal the sick,
  	make spotless the blemished, raise the living dead, cast
 6	out fashionable lunacy. 
  	    The ideal robe of Christ is seamless. Thou hast touched
  	its hem, and thou art being healed. The risen Christ is
 9	thine. The haunting mystery and gloom of his glory
  	rule not this century. Thine is the upspringing hope, the
  	conquest over sin and mortality, that lights the living
12	way to Life, not to death. 
  	    May the God of our fathers, the infinite Person whom
  	we worship, be and abide with you. May the blessing of
15	divine Love rest with you. My heart hovers around your
  	churches in Chicago, for the dove of peace sits smilingly
  	on these branches and sings of our Redeemer. 


18	           FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                LOS ANGELES, CAL. 

  	    Beloved Students: — Your kind letter, inviting me to
21	be present at the dedication of your church, was duly
  	received. It would indeed give me pleasure to visit you,
  	to witness your prosperity, and "rejoice with them that
24	do rejoice," but the constant recurring demands upon
  	my time and attention pin me to my post. Of this,
  	however, I can sing:  My love can fly on wings of joy to
27	you and leave a leaf of olive; it can whisper to you of
  	the divine ever-presence, answering your prayers, crown-
  	ing your endeavors, and building for you a house "eternal
30	in the heavens." 
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 193


 1	    You will dedicate your temple in faith unfeigned, not to
  	the unknown God, but unto Him whom to know aright
 3	is life everlasting. His presence with you will bring to
  	your hearts so much of heaven that you will not feel my
  	absence. The privilege remains mine to watch and work
 6	for all, from East to West, from the greensward and
  	gorgeous skies of the Orient to your dazzling glory
  	in the Occident, and to thank God forever "for His
 9	goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children
  	of men." 

  	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
12	               November 20, 1902 


  	      SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 

15	    Beloved: — The spiritual dominates the temporal. Love
  	gives nothing to take away. Nothing dethrones His
  	house. You are dedicating yours to Him. Protesting
18	against error, you unite with all who believe in Truth. 
  	God guard and guide you. 


  	          FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
21	                                   NEW YORK, N. Y. 

  	    Beloved Brethren: — Carlyle writes, "Give a thing time;
  	if it succeeds, it is a right thing." Here I aver that you
24	have grasped time and labor, taking the first by the fore-
  	lock and the last by love. In this lofty temple, dedicated
  	to God and humanity, may the prophecy of Isaiah be
27	fulfilled: "Fear not: . . . I have called thee by thy
  	name; thou art mine." Within its sacred walls may
 1 
                                                          Miscellany                                   194


	song and sermon generate only that which Christianity
  	writes in broad facts over great continents — sermons
 3	that fell forests and remove mountains, songs of joy
  	and gladness. 
  	    The letter of your work dies, as do all things material,
 6	but the spirit of it is immortal. Remember that a temple
  	but foreshadows the idea of God, the "house not made
  	with hands, eternal in the heavens," while a silent, grand
 9	man or woman, healing sickness and destroying sin,
  	builds that which reaches heaven. Only those men and
  	women gain greatness who gain themselves in a complete
12	subordination of self. 
  	    The tender memorial engraven on your grand edifice
  	stands for human self lost in divine light, melted into the
15	radiance of His likeness. It stands for meekness and
  	might, for Truth as attested by the Founder of your
  	denomination and emblazoned on the fair escutcheon of
18	your church. 

  	    Beloved Students: — Your telegram, in which you pre-
  	sent to me the princely gift of your magnificent church
21	edifice in New York City, is an unexpected token of your
  	gratitude and love. I deeply appreciate it, profoundly
  	thank you for it, and gratefully accept the spirit of it;
24	but I must decline to receive that for which you have
  	sacrificed so much and labored so long. May divine
  	Love abundantly bless you, reward you according to
27	your works, guide and guard you and your church
  	through the depths; and may you

  	                 "Who stood the storm when seas were rough,
30	                      Ne'er in a sunny hour fall off." 



  
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 195


1	           FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                  CLEVELAND, OHIO 

 3	    Beloved Brethren: — You will pardon my delay in
  	acknowledging your card of invitation to the dedicatory
  	services of your church. Adverse circumstances, loss of
 6	help, new problems to be worked out for the field, etc.,
  	have hitherto prevented my reply. However, it is never
  	too late to repent, to love more, to work more, to watch
 9	and pray; but those privileges I have not had time to
  	express, and so have submitted to necessity, letting the
  	deep love which I cherished for you be hidden under an
12	appearance of indifference. 
  	    We must resign with good grace what we are denied, and
  	press on with what we are, for we cannot do more than we
15	are nor understand what is not ripening in us. To do
  	good to all because we love all, and to use in God's service
  	the one talent that we all have, is our only means of
18	adding to that talent and the best way to silence a deep
  	discontent with our shortcomings. 
  	    Christian Science is at length learned to be no miserable
21	piece of ideal legerdemain, by which we poor mortals ex-
  	pect to live and die, but a deep-drawn breath fresh from
  	God, by whom and in whom man lives, moves, and has
24	deathless being. The praiseworthy success of this church,
  	and its united efforts to build an edifice in which to worship
  	the infinite, sprang from the temples erected first in the
27	hearts of its members — the unselfed love that builds
  	without hands, eternal in the heaven of Spirit. God
  	grant that this unity remain, and that you continue to
30	build, rebuild, adorn, and fill these spiritual temples with
  	grace, Truth, Life, and Love. 

 
                                                          Miscellany                                   196


 1	          FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                                 PITTSBURGH, PA. 

 3	    My Beloved Brethren: — I congratulate you upon erect-
  	ing the first edifice of our denomination in the Keystone
  	State, a State whose metropolis is called the "city of
 6	brotherly love." May this dear church militant accept
  	my tender counsel in these words of the Scripture, to be
  	engrafted in church and State: —  
 9	    "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
  	wrath." "He that is slow to anger is better than the
  	mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh
12	a city." "If any man offend not in word, the same is
  	a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." 
  	"By thy words thou shalt be condemned." "Love thy
15	neighbor as thyself." 
  	    "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
  	that [we] should follow his steps: . . . who, when he was
18	reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened
  	not; but committed himself to Him that judgeth right-
  	eously." "Consider him that endured such contradiction
21	of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in
  	your minds." 


  	          FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
24	                                    ST. LOUIS, MO. 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — The good in being, even the
  	spiritually indispensable, is your daily bread. Work and
27	pray for it. The poor toil for our bread, and we should
  	work for their health and holiness. Over the glaciers of
  	winter the summer glows. The beauty of holiness comes
 
                                 Messages to Branch Churches                 197


 1	with the departure of sin. Enjoying good things is
  	not evil, but becoming slaves to pleasure is. That error
 3	is most forcible which is least distinct to conscience. 
  	Attempt nothing without God's help. 
  	    May the beauty of holiness be upon this dear people,
 6	and may this beloved church be glorious, without spot
  	or blemish. 


  	           FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
 9	                                    SAN JOSE, CAL. 

  	    Beloved Students: — Words are inadequate to express
  	my deep appreciation of your labor and success in com-
12	pleting and dedicating your church edifice, and of the
  	great hearts and ready hands of our far Western students,
  	the Christian Scientists. 
15	    Comparing such students with those whose words
  	are but the substitutes for works, we learn that the
  	translucent atmosphere of the former must illumine the
18	midnight of the latter, else Christian Science will dis-
  	appear from among mortals. 
  	    I thank divine Love for the hope set before us in the
21	Word and in the doers thereof, "for of such is the kingdom
  	of heaven." 


  	         FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
24	                             WILMINGTON, N. C. 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — At this dedicatory season of
  	your church edifice in the home of my heart, I send lov-
27	ing congratulations, join with you in song and sermon. 
  	God will bless the work of your hearts and hands. 

  	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
30	                  July 27, 1907 

 
                                                          Miscellany                                   198


 1	          FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
  	                               LONDON, ENGLAND 

 3	    Beloved Students and Brethren: — Your letters of May 1
  	and June 19, informing me of the dedication of your
  	magnificent church edifice, have been received with many
 6	thanks to you and great gratitude to our one Father. 
  	    May God grant not only the continuance of His favors,
  	but their abundant and ripened fruit. 

 9	CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
  	      June 26, 1909SHOW ALL