0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

  	              ADDRESS, — LAYING THE CORNER-STONE 

  	    Beloved Students: — On the 21st day of May, A. D. 
15	1894, with quiet, imposing ceremony, is laid the corner-
  	stone of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist," in
  	Boston. 
18	    It gives me great pleasure to say that you, principally
  	the Normal class graduates of my College, well known
  	physicians, teachers, editors, and pastors of churches,
21	by contributions of one thousand dollars each, husband
  	and wife reckoned as one, have, within about three
  	months, donated the munificent sum of forty-two thou-
24	sand dollars toward building The Mother Church. A
  	quiet call from me for this extra contribution, in aid of
  	our Church Building Fund, found you all "with one
27	accord in one place." Each donation came promptly;
  	sometimes at much self-sacrifice, but always accompanied
  	with a touching letter breathing the donor's privileged joy. 
 
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                                                                        THE CORNER-STONE
 
 1	    The granite for this church was taken from the quar-
  	ries in New Hampshire, my native State. The money
 3	for building "Mother's Room," situated in the second
  	story of the tower on the northeast corner of this build-
  	ing, and the name thereof, came from ...the dear children
 6	of Christian Scientists; a little band called Busy Bees,
  	organized by Miss Maurine R. Campbell. 
  	    On this memorable day there are laid away a copy of
 9	this address, the subscription list on which appear your
  	several names in your own handwriting, your textbook,
  	"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and
12	other works written by the same author, your teacher,
  	the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;* with-
  	out pomp or pride, laid away as a sacred secret in the
15	heart of a rock, there to typify the prophecy, "And a man
  	shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert
  	from the tempest; . . . as the shadow of a great rock in
18	a weary land:" henceforth to whisper our Master's
  	promise, "Upon this rock I will build my church; and
  	the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
21	    To-day, be this hope in each of our hearts, — precious
  	in God's sight as shall be the assembling of His people
  	in this temple, sweet as the rest that remaineth for the
24	righteous, and fresh as a summer morn, — that, from
  	earth's pillows of stone, our visible lives are rising to
  	God. As in the history of a seed, so may our earthly
27	sowing bear fruit that exudes the inspiration of the wine
  	poured into the cup of Christ. 
  	    To-day I pray that divine Love, the life-giving Prin-
30	ciple of Christianity, shall speedily wake the long night
  	of materialism, and the universal dawn shall break upon
  	the spire of this temple. The Church, more than any

33	* A copy of the Bible was included among the books placed in the
  	 corner-stone.
 
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                                                                        THE CORNER-STONE
 
 1	other institution, at present is the cement of society, and
  	it should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty. 
 3	But the time cometh when the religious element, or Church
  	of Christ, shall exist alone in the affections, and need no
  	organization to express it. Till then, this form of godli-
 6	ness seems as requisite to manifest its spirit, as individ-
  	uality to express Soul and substance. 
  	    Does a single bosom burn for fame and power? Then
 9	when that person shall possess these, let him ask him-
  	self, and answer to his name in this corner-stone of our
  	temple:  Am I greater for them? And if he thinks that
12	he is, then is he less than man to whom God gave "do-
  	minion over all the earth," less than the meek who "in-
  	herit the earth." Even vanity forbids man to be vain;
15	and pride is a hooded hawk which flies in darkness. Over
  	a wounded sense of its own error, let not mortal thought
  	resuscitate too soon. 
18	    In our rock-bound friendship, delicate as dear, our
  	names may melt into one, and common dust, and their
  	modest sign be nothingness. Be this as it may, the visible
21	unity of spirit remains, to quicken even dust into sweet
  	memorial such as Isaiah prophesied: "The wolf also shall
  	dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
24	the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
  	together; and a little child shall lead them." 
  	    When the hearts of Christian Scientists are woven to-
27	gether as are their names in the web of history, earth will
  	float majestically heaven's heraldry, and echo the song
  	of angels: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
30	peace, good will toward men." 
  	    To The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, and to
  	the dear children that my heart folds within it, let me
 
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                                                                        THE CORNER-STONE
 
1	say, 'Tis sweet to remember thee, and God's Zion, with
  	healing on her wings. May her walls be vocal with sal-
 3	vation; and her gates with praise! 
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