First Church of Christ, Scientist, of
New York, and the choir of the home church, numbering thirty-five
singers in all—led the singing, under the direction, respectively, of
Mr. Henry Lincoln Case, and Miss Elsie Lincoln.

Judge S.J. Hanna, editor of the Christian Science Journal, presided over the exercises. On the platform with him were Messrs. Ira O. Knapp, Joseph Armstrong, Stephen A. Chase, and William B. Johnson, who compose the board of directors, and Mrs. Henrietta Clark Bemis, a distinguished elocutionist, and a native of Concord, New Hampshire.

The utmost simplicity marked the exercises. After an organ voluntary, the hymn, "Laus Deo, It Is Done," written by Mrs. Eddy for the corner-stone laying last spring, was sung by the congregation. Selections from the Scriptures and from SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, were read by Judge Hanna and Dr. Eddy.

A few minutes of silent prayer came next, followed by the recitation of the Lord's prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science text-book.

The sermon prepared for the occasion by Mrs. Eddy, which was looked forward to as the chief feature of the dedication, was then read by Mrs. Bemis. Mrs. Eddy remained at her home in Concord, N.H., during the day, because, as heretofore stated in The Herald, it is her custom to discourage among her followers that sort of personal worship which religious teachers so often receive.

Before presenting the sermon, Mrs. Bemis read the following letter from a former pastor of the church:

Rev. Mary Baker Eddy—Dear Teacher, Leader, Guide: Laus Deo. It is done. At last you begin to see the fruition of that you have worked, toiled, prayed for. The prayer in stone is accomplished.

Across 2,000 miles of space, as mortal sense puts it, I send my hearty congratulations. You are fully occupied, but I thought you would willingly pause for an instant to receive this brief message of congratulation. Surely it marks an era in the blessed onward work of Christian Science. It is a most auspicious hour in your eventful career. While we all rejoice, yet the mother in Israel, alone of us all, comprehends its full significance. Yours lovingly,

LANSON P. NORCROSS.

(Boston Sunday Globe, January 6, 1895.)

EXTRACT.

Stately Home for Believers in Gospel Healing.—A Woman of Wealth Who
Devotes All to Her Church Work.

Christian Science has shown its power over its students, as they are called, by building a church by voluntary contribution, the first of its kind, a church which will be dedicated to-day, with a quarter of a million dollars expended and free of debt.

The money has flowed in from all parts of the United States and Canada without any special appeal, and it kept coming until the custodian of funds cried "enough" and refused to accept any further checks by mail or otherwise. Men, women, and children lent a helping hand, some giving a mite and some substantial sums. Sacrifices were made in many an instance which will never be known in this world.

Christian Scientists not only say that they can effect cures of disease and erect churches, but add that they can get their buildings finished on time even when the feat seems impossible to mortal senses. Read the following from a publication of the new denomination:

One of the grandest and most helpful features of this glorious consummation is this: that one month before the close of the year every evidence of material sense declared that the church's completion within the year 1894 transcended human possibility. The predictions of workman and onlooker alike were that it could not be completed before April or May of 1895.

Much was the ridicule heaped upon the hopeful, trustful ones, who declared and repeatedly asseverated to the contrary. This is indeed, then, a scientific demonstration. It has proved, in most striking manner, the oft-repeated declarations of our text-books, that the evidence of the mortal senses is unreliable.

A week ago Judge Hanna withdrew from the pastorate of the church, saying he gladly laid down his responsibilities to be succeeded by the grandest of ministers—the Bible and "SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES." This action it appears, was the result of rules made by Mrs. Eddy. The sermons hereafter will consist of passages read from the two books by readers, who will be elected each year by the congregation.

A story has been abroad that Judge Hanna was so eloquent and magnetic that he was attracting listeners who came to hear him preach rather than in search of the truth as taught. Consequently the new rules were formulated.

But at Christian Science headquarters this is denied; Mrs. Eddy says the words of the judge speak to the point, and that no such inference is to be drawn therefrom.

In Mrs. Eddy's personal reminiscences, which are published under the title of "Retrospection and Introspection," much is told of herself in detail that can only be touched upon in this brief sketch.

Aristocratic to the backbone, Mrs. Eddy takes delight in going back to the ancestral tree and in tracing those branches which are identified with good and great names both in Scotland and England.

Her family came to this country not long before the Revolution. Among the many souvenirs that Mrs. Eddy remembers as belonging to her grandparents was a heavy sword, encased in a brass scabbard, upon which had been inscribed the name of the kinsman upon whom the sword had been bestowed by Sir William Wallace of mighty Scottish fame.

Mrs. Eddy applied herself, like other girls, to her studies, though perhaps with an unusual zest, delighting in philosophy, logic, and moral science, as well as looking into the ancient languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.