The new church edifice of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Beatrice, Neb., was dedicated Sunday, May 26, 1901. The following description of the edifice appeared in a recent issue of the Gage County Democrat
The Christian Science Church which has just been completed at the corner of Eighth and Ella Streets in this city is one of the neatest and best arranged places of worship in Beatrice.
The building is 42x46 feet, with a tower and vestibule extending beyond those dimensions.
The basement, which opens out on Eighth Street, contains a large and well-lighted reading room, which will be supplied with Christian Science literature and will be open to the general public. The furnace and store rooms are also in the basement.
The audience room faces the south on Ella Street, and is well lighted and ventilated. It has a seating capacity of three hundred and twenty-five, which can be considerably increased.
The walls are finished in hard sand ground ready for frescoing. The floor is varnished and the aisles neatly carpeted. The seats were made by A. J. Pethoud & Co., and are decidedly neat, tasty, and roomy. They are so arranged that one sitting in any part of the room is in full view of the Reader's desk. The audience room is lighted at night by twenty-four incandescent lights under a large reflector in the centre of the ceiling, and by side lights. In the rear of the audience room is a study room.
The Christian Science denomination in this city was organized in 1888, thought at that time Fairbury, Blue Springs, and several other towns were included in this church. It now has fifty-five members in Beatrice alone.
This denomination may well be proud of their new church edifice and the fact that it is free of debt.
The Democrat congratulates the Christian Scientists, and especially Mr. E. M. Buswell, who in his quiet, unobtrusive manner has builded up this church in membership and has succeeded in the erection of a house of worship.
The following account of the dedication, including the dedicatory addresses, was published in The Beatrice Daily Express, Monday, May 27, 1901.
The formal dedication of the handsome new church edifice of First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Beatrice, at the corner of Eighth and Ella Streets, took place yesterday in the presence of a very large congregation.
The edifice is one of the largest and at the same time coziest in the city. The congregation began gathering early, and by the time the last church bell rang the spacious auditorium was filled to its utmost with visiting members of the church organization from Lincoln, Omaha, and elsewhere, and a great host of Beatrice members and friends.
The spacious platform was very charmingly adorned with flowers, palms, evergreens, and smilax, and presented a most inviting appearance.
The proceedings began with a voluntary on the piano by Mrs. S. H. Gibbs, followed by music by the choir and congregation.
Mr. E. M. Buswell, First Reader of the church, delivered the welcoming address, which was followed by an interesting history of the church read by Miss Grace Fuller, Second Reader of the church.
Rev. Arthur Zeimer, First Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Lincoln, then delivered a brief address, which was followed by letters of greeting from different Christian Science churches throughout the state, which were read by Miss Fuller.
Prof. J. F. Lewis of this city then sang the tenor solo, "Seek Me with all your Heart," from the oratorio of Elijah.
The regular services of the church followed, Miss Fuller, Second Reader, reading selections from the Scriptures, and Mr. Buswell reading correlative passages from the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
ADDRESS OF E. M. BUSWELL, C.S.D., FIRST READER.
Friends:—It is with glad hearts we welcome you to worship God with us in our own new church building, and this welcome becomes a greater pleasure when we remember how good our God is; how He has blessed us in health and prosperity, and has shown us that true happiness can only be found in true Godliness.
It may be of interest to you to know why this building has been erected, and how it became possible to built it.
About thirty-five years ago a woman whose faith and confidence in divine Love was without limit, was raised from a sick-bed to perfect health by simply taking God at His word. This demonstration led her to search the Scriptures in a new light; and as a result of her careful study of Holy Writ, and her consecration to God, she has given to us "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the Christian Science text-book. This woman is Mary Baker G. Eddy of Concord, N. H.
Sixteen years ago this month Science and Health was placed in our hands with the comforting words, "You can heal yourself if you will study this book." We accepted the proposition, and by a careful study of its pages, and the Bible in the light that Science and Health throws upon it, we were of physical ills that had been pronounced incurable by emient physicians; and incurable by eminent physicians; and through the understanding of God's word, in the light of Christian Science, we have been able to point the way for others that has led them out of their bondage to sickness and sin.
This experience, and similar ones of many of our people, have led up to the demonstration we this day enjoy. Like the children of Israel with the Red Sea before them, the clouds have seemed to lower over our efforts at times, and the tempter would suggest, "How can you accomplish such an undertaking with so small a band?" But when the voice of the Master was heard, "Go forward!" we would turn our faces from the wilderness of despair, and the waves of fear and doubt would part before us, as loving hearts and willing hands cheerfully rallied to the need with their love efferings. And so for, the past few months the work has gone bravely on; and to-day we thank the dear Father that this demonstration has proven the language of our text-book, "Divine Love always has met, and always will meet, every human need," because, as the needs have come up, they have been cheerfully met. And to-day the only debt we owe is the debt of love, gratitude, and obedience to our dear heavenly Father for the spiritual blessings He so abundantly pours out for us.
And in this debt of gratitude we shall not forget the dear one who has so faithfully labored and sacrificed for suffering, sinning mortals; her whom we lovingly and gratefully call Mother.
Christian Science reveals the might and power of divine Love to heal us of every form of discord, whether it be sin, sickness, or sorrow. Well may we exclaim in the language of the Psalmist, "Who is so great a God as our God?"
Address of Miss Grace A. Fuller, C.S., Second Reader.
A brief history of our church organization will be appropriate at this time. About sixteen years ago, attention was called to the subject of Christian Science in this place by the sudden and unexpected healing of several well-known persons from severe maladies of various types, after some of the cases had been pronounced by the physicians hopeless and incurable.
When it was found that the new method of healing, called Christian Science, purported to be a practical and Scientific application of the truths taught and practised by Jesus and his disciples, a number who had been interested and benefited began meeting together to search the Scriptures in the light of this newly found doctrine. For some time the meetings were held at the homes of some of the number. In November. 1888, a church was organized under the laws of the state of Nebraska, and from that time until 1894, public services were held in what was known as Le Poidevin Hall, over Gibbs' shoe store, after which time the Brethren Church on East Court Street was rented and occupied until early this year.
At the annual meeting of the church in December, 1899, the church was re-organized to meet present requirements and conform more closely to the rules of the Mother Church of Boston, Mass., of which ours is one of nearly five hundred branches, scattered over the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Mexico, and Australia. The title of our branch is First Church of Christ, Scientist, Beatrice, Nebraska.
In 1891 a building lot was purchased and paid for, in the hope that we should ere long be able to build a church. No definite action was taken in the matter, however, until within the past year. During this time our building lot was sold and the one on which this church now stands was secured; the building was purchased and removed from its old location on Court Street, enlarged, improved, and furnished in the plain and simple, yet comfortable manner in which you find it to-day.
When the work was begun it was with a clear apprehension that "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." and also with a firm reliance on the promises of God as being as full of meaning to His children to-day as at any time in the history of the world.
Much praise and earnest thanks are due to the Board of Trustees of the church, on whom the burden of responsibility has largely fallen. They have been faithful and efficient in the discharge of the duties imposed upon them. Our beloved local leader has been tireless in his activity in all parts of the work, and his loyalty to the cause of Truth, and courage in the face of what seemed to be a mountainous undertaking for our small number, have been the principal factors which have made possible this demonstration of the love and power of God, and have wrought of the hope and desire to dedicate to the service of God and man a church home of our own, a glad reality to-day. The children, too, have joyfully and eagerly done all in their power to make the undertaking a success, and rightly share in the blessing of this occasion.
We are here to-day to dedicate to the service of God, for the benefit of man, this, our church. This material structure which the eye beholds is not the true Church. The true Church is only seen in its effects in individual lives, and therefore in the community. The Church, as defined in our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy, is "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution which affords proof of its utility, and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs, to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of Divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."
The evidences of the true Church have not been wanting in our midst. The sick have been healed, the sorrowing comforted, and the sinful reformed; diseases of a wide variety of types, both chronic and acute, organic and functional, have been thoroughly and permanently healed, and the appetite for tobacco and strong drink, and many other phases of sin have been destroyed.
We give thanks to God for the visible fruits of our labors. This day is to us a time of rejoicing, and of re-consecration to the service of God in the effort that this church shall stand in this community as one which shows its faith by its works, holds pre-eminently to the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man; and we say, as did Paul, That our speech and our preaching be "not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
