The Christmas services of the Boston Church of Christ (Scientist) were held at Chickering Hall, Sunday afternoon, December 23, at three o'clock. The Pastor, Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy, officiated through the entire program, except that the sermon, written by her, was read by F. E. Mason, the Assistant Pastor, who was also in the pulpit.
The platform was festooned overhead with evergreens, from the midst of which, spanning the front, and surmounted by a magnificent floral star, was the legend:
CHRIST THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.
The rostrum and desk were hidden by floral decorations and plants in bloom.
Long before three o'clock every seat was occupied; and during a half-hour the audience was entertained by a song-service, in which the congregation joined, conducted by Dr. E. J. Foster-Eddy.
The Pastor opened the regular service by the reading and exposition of the spiritual sense of a part of Isaiah ix, and then led in the Lord's Prayer, with the spiritual interpretation.
After a Christmas anthem by the choir, Mr. Mason read the sermon, on the Personal and the Impersonal Saviour, from the text, Isaiah ix. 6. A suggestion of the line of thought may be gained from the following pithy and important periods:
In the senses, Jesus was the Son of Man; at that same time in Science he was the Son of God. It was his approximation to this state of being that made him the Christ Jesus, the Godlike, the Anointed.
The third event of this eventful period — a period of such wonderful spiritual import to mankind — was the advent of Christian Science.
In the person of Jesus he bore our iniquities, and through his stripes we are healed. He was the Way; and must suffer in the flesh, to show mortals how to escape from the sins of the flesh through suffering.
There was no spiritual Jesus of Nazareth. The spiritual Jesus is after the similitude of the Father, without personality or finity.
The presentation of the personal Jesus and of the impersonal Saviour,—the Saviour of Science,—in implied contrast with the Saviour of traditional Christianity, together with the exposition of his second coming, were full of the highest spiritual suggestion. A considerable portion of this sermon will be published in next month's Journal. The reading of it occupied fifteen minutes.
The hymn,
Just as I am, without one plea,
was followed by an impressive ceremony, replete with significance and matter for reflection. This Sunday, fifty new members were welcomed to the fellowship of the church, in a charge, followed by a spiritual Lesson of Communion, breathing an inspiration and earnestness that will not be forgotten by the listeners. These exercises were followed by the hymn,
On the night of that last supper;
after which came the sublimely simple, spiritual Communion of Christian Science: the Pastor kneeling at her chair, and leading the desires of all who communed with her in Spirit, as, in this supreme act of worship, they bowed " before Christ, Truth, to receive"—in the closing words of PRAYER AND ATONEMENT— "more of his reappearing, and silently communed with the divine Principle thereof. They celebrated their Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh after death, its exemplification of human probation, and his final ascension above the flesh, when he rose out of the senses' sight." All who discerned how infinitely this Soul-communion rises above that celebrated with the visible elements, saw "Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of time. They were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal sensualism, or the burial of mind in matter, to newness of life in Christ."
The reading of an Original Hymn by the Pastor, which will be published next month, and the singing of the Doxology, followed by an impressive Benediction, closed services that had held the closest attention of the large congregation, from first to last.
As the audience passed out, the Pastor descended from the rostrum to the floor, and a quarter-hour was spent in the exchange of affectionate greetings, which must have been a grateful ending of a memorable occasion.
