  Beloved Students:—On the 21st day of May, a.d. 1894, with quiet, imposing ceremony, is laid the corner- [15] stone of “The First Church of Christ, Scientist,” in Boston. 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, [20] 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- sand dollars toward building The Mother Church. A quiet call from me for this extra contribution, in aid of [25] our Church Building Fund, found you all “with one 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. The granite for this church was taken from the quar- [1] ries in New Hampshire, my native State. The money 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 [5] 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 this address, the subscription list on which appear your several names in your own handwriting, your textbook, [10] “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” and other works written by the same author, your teacher, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;4 without pomp or pride, laid away as a sacred secret in the heart of a rock, there to typify the prophecy, “And a man [15] shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; ... as the shadow of a great rock in 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.” [20] 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 righteous, and fresh as a summer morn,—that, from earth's pillows of stone, our visible lives are rising to [25] God. As in the history of a seed, so may our earthly 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- ciple of Christianity, shall speedily wake the long night [30] of materialism, and the universal dawn shall break upon the spire of this temple. The Church, more than any other institution, at present is the cement of society, and [1] it should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty. 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- [5] 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 when that person shall possess these, let him ask him- self, and answer to his name in this corner-stone of our [10] temple: Am I greater for them? And if he thinks that 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; and pride is a hooded hawk which flies in darkness. Over [15] a wounded sense of its own error, let not mortal thought |
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