OUR revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in an inspired acknowledgment to the Churches of Christ, Scientist, of Chicago, for their generous gift toward the building of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Concord, New Hampshire, asks this vital question (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 164): "What is this something, this phoenix fire, this pillar by day, kindling, guiding, and guarding your way?" And in her great wisdom she answers, "It is unity, the bond of perfectness, the thousandfold expansion that will engirdle the world,— unity, which unfolds the thought most within us into the greater and better, the sum of all reality and good."
The beautiful church edifice in Concord is an expression of our revered Leader's unselfed love, her unity with God, good. At that time she set apart one hundred thousand dollars (ibid., p. 157) for the Concord church. When the time came to build the beautiful structure, many churches and individuals sent generous tokens of gratitude to supplement their Leader's gift. Mrs. Eddy saw in these munificent donations from her alert followers the evidence of what she eloquently calls "unity, the bond of perfectness." The churches were united in their loyal devotion to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and to her Cause. They were one in unselfish giving to a far-away branch church which, in a material sense, had rendered them no service, and from which they would reap no special reward. So glorious is this unity, this "bond of perfectness," that, as our Leader declared, it will so expand that it will "engirdle the world." Unity, then, is a seed which will multiply until it unfolds within us "the sum of all reality and good."
This oneness is more than the precious bond of fellowship that unites our beloved Leader to her faithful followers, and these loyal members one to another. It is the tender tie that binds the infinite Father-Mother Love, our God, to His children. This unity is manifested in the appearing of the Christ, Truth, in the oneness that inheres in God's unfolding revelation of Himself, witnessed in the Scriptures and exemplified in the church triumphant. It is an active, living energy which, consciously perceived and realized, unifies all within its illimitable boundaries. What, then, is this bond of perfectness but Christian Science, which, according to our revered Leader, makes the whole Bible one from Genesis to Revelation, and which to-day is cementing into one invincible peace-loving army the mighty hosts who obey one God, and whose victories, blessing all mankind, are helping to weld the whole world into one common brotherhood.
