  Pen can never portray the satisfaction that you afforded me at the grand meeting in Chicago of the National Chris- tian Scientist Association in 1888. Your public and private expressions of love and loyalty were very touch- ing. They moved me to speechless thanks. [25] Chicago is the wonder of the western hemisphere. The Palmer House, where we stopped, is magnificent and orderly. The servants are well-mannered, and the fare is appetizing. The floral offerings sent to my apartments were superb, especially the large book of rare flowers, and [1] the crescent with a star. The reception in the spacious rooms of the Palmer House, like all else, was purely Western in its cordiality and largeness. I did not hold interviews with all with [5] whom I desired to, solely because so many people and circumstances demanded my attention that my person- ality was not big enough to fill the order; but rest as- sured my heart's desire met the demand. My students, our delegates, about one thousand Chris- [10] tian Scientists, active, earnest, and loyal, formed a goodly assemblage for the third convention of our National As- sociation,—an assemblage found waiting and watching for the full coming of our Lord and Christ. In Christian Science the midnight hour will always be [15] the bridal hour, until “no night is there.” The wise will have their lamps aglow, and light will illumine the darkness. Out of the gloom comes the glory of our Lord, and His divine Love is found in affliction. When a false [20] sense suffers, the true sense comes out, and the bride- groom appears. We are then wedded to a purer, higher affection and ideal. I pray that all my students shall have their lamps trimmed and burning at the noon of night, that not one [25] of them be found borrowing oil, and seeking light from matter instead of Spirit, or at work erroneously, thus shutting out spiritual light. Such an error and loss will be quickly learned when the door is shut. Error giveth no light, and it closes the door on itself. [30] In the dark hours, wise Christian Scientists stand firmer than ever in their allegiance to God. Wisdom is wedded to their love, and their hearts are not [1] troubled. Falsehood is on the wings of the winds, but Truth will soar above it. Truth is speaking louder, clearer, and more imperatively than ever. Error is walking to [5] and fro in the earth, trying to be heard above Truth, but its voice dies out in the distance. Whosoever pro- claims Truth loudest, becomes the mark for error's shafts. The archers aim at Truth's mouthpiece; but a heart loyal to God is patient and strong. Justice waits, and [10] is used to waiting; and right wins the everlasting victory. The stake and scaffold have never silenced the mes- sages of the Most High. Then can the present mode of attempting this—namely, by slanderous falsehoods, and [15] a secret mind-method, through which to effect the pur- poses of envy and malice—silence Truth? Never. They but open the eyes to the truth of Benjamin Franklin's report before the French Commissioners on Mesmerism: “It is one more fact to be recorded in the history of the [20] errors of the human mind.” “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.” No evidence before the material senses can close my eyes to the scientific proof that God, good, is supreme. Though clouds are round about Him, the divine justice [25] and judgment are enthroned. Love is especially near in times of hate, and never so near as when one can be just amid lawlessness, and render good for evil. I thunder His law to the sinner, and sha
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