Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, said of the original edifice of The Mother Church (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 141), "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, our prayer in stone, will be the prophecy fulfilled, the monument upreared, of Christian Science," adding, "All loyal Christian Scientists hail with joy this proposed type of universal Love."
Today, students of Christian Science throughout the world have participated in the erection of the new Christian Science Publishing House. When thought turns to God in grateful acknowledgment of divine goodness and love, it is well for us prayerfully to contemplate the deeper meaning of this building activity. Begun at a period when the whole world seemed caught in a maelstrom of depression and lack, the building of this edifice is monumental proof that God is, as Christian Science declares, the only source of supply. What unshakable evidence that material things do not constitute true substance! They are only the humanly comprehensible things which typify that "enduring substance" which fadeth not away.
As one prayerfully reasons with respect to this fadeless substance, some comprehension is gained that the mental concept and human experience are correlated. One is thus naturally led to accept the undeniable premise that thinking produces the phenomena of which one is humanly cognizant. In the light of this fact, the quality of one's thinking becomes vitally significant.
In obedience to God, Moses brought forth water from the rock. Through Elijah's trust in Him the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil were proved adequate to sustain the widow and her son and the prophet during a period of famine. In the wilderness Christ Jesus multiplied a few loaves and fishes to feed a multitude, and at his command Peter took a coin from a fish's mouth with which to satisfy the tax collector. These incidents furnish conclusive proof that only clarified vision is needed to see that such divine ideas as faith, hope, love, gratitude, consecration, constitute true substance; and when understood this fact can be utilized in human affairs. Clarified vision is obtained only as the mist of greedy, fearful thinking is rolled away by calm, purified thinking.
Christian Science teaches that all true thought proceeds from the one Mind, God. This thought is harmonious, satisfying, and adequate to supply all needs. Mind, Spirit, is substance. By virtue of his at-one-ment with God, man enjoys the affluence of true substance, which is manifest as ideas. The one Mind is invincible, all-inclusive; and whatever good is manifest humanly is the reflection of this primal and only cause. This divine, original activity of Mind excludes all so-called material thought. Thus depression and lack are not expressions of Mind, but of belief in Mind's absence. They are not entities; they are nonexistent.
Viewed from the standpoint of mental causation, the erection of the new Publishing House indicates an understanding and demonstration of the great truths of being. Thus it is a psalm of acknowledgment and thanksgiving that the power of Truth is present and active in human affairs. This is significant not only to Christian Scientists, but to the whole world, which is included in its beneficent influence.
When divine ideas are recognized and accepted as true substance, they operate in human experience as present supply for present needs. Spirit is not materialized, but human thought is awakened to perceive the presence and power of Truth. The new Publishing House represents more than a co-ordination of steel, stone, and other materials in outlines of beauty and grace. It is a monument upreared in gratitude for the healing Christ, revealed in Christian Science, and directing the thoughts of men to man's indestructible inheritance as a child of God. No greater service can be rendered fear-stricken humanity than thus to prove supply as Life expressed.
The Mother Church with its branches symbolizes to human comprehension the ideal, the spiritual Church. It reflects the church triumphant, universal and eternal; it "is designed to be built on the Rock, Christ; even the understanding and demonstration of divine Truth, Life, and Love, healing and saving the world from sin and death" (Manual, p. 19). This saving, healing truth must be proclaimed to human consciousness before it can be understood and demonstrated in human affairs. As Paul wrote to the Romans, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" Herein is apparent the vital connection that the new Publishing House bears to that paean of praise, "our prayer in stone," The Mother Church.
The Christian Science periodicals, including The Christian Science Monitor, may be said to be the missionaries of our movement. They fill their place, which no other branch of the work can fill. They are carrying the leavening truth even to the frontiers of civilization where as yet no Christian Science organization has been established and no lecture delivered. These messengers of Truth are passed from one interested individual to another; and as their healing influence widens, the natural result is increased interest in Christian Science.
A student of this Science once found herself in a community some hundred miles from an organization. Gratefully she received the spiritual refreshment brought to her by the Christian Science periodicals. Though seemingly isolated in a desert land, she persistently declared in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." At last one who believed herself to be an atheist came to the student with the avowed purpose of disproving Christian Science. The student seized this opportunity to witness for Truth by inviting the needy one to read the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly with her. Week after week, as they read together, invincible Truth was at work clearing away the debris of erring belief. She who had come "to scoff, remained to pray." The healing was complete, and the onetime atheist later became a Reader in a branch church. Today in that community there is a Christian Science organization; and many there, for the first time, have heard the glad tidings of Truth. Numerous travelers have paused at this wayside haven of Truth to give and receive of Love's refreshing.
As the great truths of being taught in Christian Science become more widely disseminated in human thinking, the universality of Truth becomes more apparent. Because God is One and indivisible, His creation is unified and harmonious. Accepting this truth, thought naturally admits that international boundaries are but mortal concepts which appear to separate nations. As the healing message of Christian Science reaches beyond these mortal limitations and enfolds all humanity in God's gracious love, the recognition of universal brotherhood must inevitably follow. When, through individual realization, this glorious concept is increasingly established in world thought, it will be seen that, as among individuals so among nations, there is no occasion for selfish elbowing resulting in individual, national, and international suspicion and intrigue. The basis of good will is love for God and man. This leads us to a correct appraisal of another's worth, with the resultant recognition of the fact that nations, as well as individuals, have a specific contribution to make to the social structure.
Trivial, provincial thinking culminates in narrow nationalism, which to justify itself adopts the time-honored vestments of patriotism. When nations cease to compete, and begin to co-operate in recognition of universal good, there can be no warring thought. Herein is fulfilled that royal law of love, and this law points to the highway to international peace. The Christian Science periodicals carry throughout the world this glad message of Love and Life. Love's effulgence must eventually dawn in universal human experience, overcoming human hate and putting an end to international strife.
Nineteen hundred years ago our beloved Master, Christ Jesus, taught the simple truths of Life as he went about his healing mission among the rich and the lowly folk of Galilee. He said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." As men view human events in retrospect, it may seem that there was no justification for the Master's sublime faith in the truths he taught. However, an honest facing of facts discloses that as each social and economic upheaval has occurred no real loss has been sustained. These upheavals have presented new occasions and new duties from which has arisen the necessity of constant readjustment of social, economic, and governmental ideals to conform, step by step, to the fundamental truths of being.
The new Christian Science Publishing House stands a monument of progress in disseminating the great redemptive message which our beloved Leader labored so untiringly to bring to weary humanity. It is a psalm of praise to triumphant Truth, an affirmation that divine power controls the destiny of men. Christian Science is eternal and universal. In the inspired language of John's Revelation it says to timorous humanity: "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." For this universal prayer we give thanks.
The new order of peace and brotherhood will be born in the hearts of men, and until that birth, treaties, covenants, and pacts will not save the world from war.—
