The dedication of the new Mother Church of the Christian Scientists in Boston is not a matter of interest to that city alone, but to the nation; not to the nation alone, but to the world; not to this time alone, but to history.
The growth of this form of religious faith has been one of the marvels of the last quarter century. It is, in some respects, the greatest religious phenomenon of all history. That a woman should found a religious movement of international sway; that its followers should number many thousands during her lifetime; that hundreds of great buildings should be filled at every meeting Sundays or on week days with devout worshipers, wooed by no eloquence of orator or magnetic ritual—all these things are new, utterly new, in the history of religious expression.
Unaccountable? Hardly so. Whatever else it is, this faith is real and is given very real tests. Thousands upon thousands believe that it has cured them of diseases many and diverse. All the passionate love for life with which nature endows the children of men grips hold of their faith and insures fidelity in pain or death for self or dear ones. But, while health-seeking is the door to this gospel for many, it is not the only source of appeal. A faith which teaches that hate is atheism, that discord is poisonous, that gloom is sin, has a mission that can be readily grasped by sick or well.
