[We have much pleasure in giving, in part, the following excellent article from Uncle Eli's Magazine, of recent date, by Clarence B. Hadden, B.L. It may not be amiss to say that the ushers for The Mother Church, to whom Mr. Hadden refers, are a remarkably fine set of men, and their efficiency and courtesy are often remarked upon by visitors to this church.—Editor Sentinel.]

On the tenth of June, 1906, it was my privilege to be appointed one of one hundred and fifty ushers to assist in seating the thirty thousand people who attended the dedication services held in The Mother Church Extention,—The First Church of Christ, Scientist (as it is known officially), in Boston, Mass. The beautiful structure, rearing its lofty dome to the height of Bunker Hill monument in the northern part of this liberty-loving and historic old city, shone resplendent in the sunlight of a perfect June day. The impression of solidity and strength, coupled with that of perfect harmony of design and beauty of its chaste, yet ornamental style of architecture—Italian Renaissance—can scarcely be appreciated by any one who has not seen it. That morning, I remember, it seemed to stand there in all its completed grandeur, as a material type of spiritual achievement, fully conscious of its mission to the world. Hardly did it seem possible, as we looked upon the great composite edifice, typifying the wonderful growth and unity of the force for righteousness behind it, that only twenty-seven short years before this Church had been organized by Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy with only twenty-six members. That even twelve years before—in 1894, when the smaller Mother Church was built—the membership was only 2,536, and that in these last twelve years, up to the present time, the membership of the Church had grown by leaps and bounds and had spread to all parts of the earth, until it then numbered forty-two thousand members, with adherents of its branch churches and students of its text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, numbered by the hundreds of thousands. It did not seem possible that there were nearly one thousand branch churches and societies scattered throughout the world, which, on that very June morning, would hold services similar to the one in which we were about to participate. But such was the fact, and this beautiful structure was not only complete, but fully paid for, every obligation being provided for before the dedication, as is the custom with all of our churches.

I think I reflected in my feeling of gratitude and love for our wise Leader, Mrs. Eddy, the thoughts of that vast throng of people who were waiting to enter—at the early hour of six o'clock in the morning—to the first service at half past seven, when I silently prayed and thanked God for the opportunity of not only being a part of this great movement, of having contributed my mite toward the cost of this great edifice, but especially that He had seen fit in His infinite wisdom to give to the world one who through bitter trials had the divine support, and understanding sufficient to "press on" in her "untiring" fight to establish, on sure foundations, the truth of Christian Science, which she had discovered only forty years before and which has so greatly needed and profited by her guiding influence and care during all these years of its tender youth. And as I was ushered into that vast auditorium and thought of what it represented, the words of our Leader's Message of that eventful day came to me as the best expression of the impression I then received. The Lesson-Sermon, consisting of appropriate passages from the Bible and correlative passages from Science and Health (which is all the sermon or pastor the Christian Science Church has throughout the world), was full of meaning. Then came the reading of the dedicatory Message of our Leader, "Choose ye." It was like a benediction and was full of hopeful thoughts. After a solo, organ offertory, and hymns, and the sending of a congratulatory telegram to Mrs. Eddy, the first of the six services of the day was concluded. It was the most profoundly sacred, religious experience I have ever had.

The great concourse of people, gathered from all the ends of the earth by a common purpose, represented much of the fruits of regeneration that is being wrought by this Christian religion in our time. Christian Science is primitive Christianity understood in all its completeness. It has restored the "lost art" of healing after the manner of Christ's teaching and practice. Hence it is just as impossible to understand and appreciate this religion, or to write a history of Christian Science or the life of its Discoverer and Founder, Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy,—as a certain magazine is claiming to do,—without carefully considering the overwhelming volume of testimony of healing (the signs that accompany it), as it is to understand and appreciate Jesus and his teaching and practice, while ridiculing or trying to explain away on some other than a basis of Divine power, the works of healing "all manner of diseases" that he and his apostles and followers performed and accomplished. Thousands upon thousands of such testimonies of persons cured of "all manner of diseases" are on record in the periodicals of our Church; the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly, and the Journal, a monthly, each publishing from fifteen to twenty in every issue, and this method has been carried on for at least ten years. This great good to humanity in this generation has not come through chance, nor through suggestive therapeutics, nor through any other human agency or speculative hypothesis, but it is the direct result of the power of the omnipotent creator and Father of us all, as revealed in the life and teachings of Christ Jesus and as interpreted by Mrs. Eddy and exemplified in her unremitting toil and self-sacrifice, in her purity and patience.

The old theology ignorantly makes God the author of pain and poverty, sickness and sin, suffering and death and declares they are all as necessary and everlasting as their opposites. This is not the God of Love the Christian Scientist worships and declares to the world. Instead of attempting to make God human or trying to compress the infinite into the finite, its whole effort is to make man Godlike; to see and know God as He really is,—all good, all power, all wisdom, and always present,—of too pure eyes to behold iniquity, and to recognize man as the image and likeness of this kind of a God. As Jesus said, the knowledge and whole-souled love of the real Father, as He is thus seen to be, constitutes one half of man's duty, and his love of his neighbor as himself constitutes the other half, for "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." This understanding, which all Christian Scientists are striving for, is the little leaven that is leavening the whole lump, and when practised and demonstrated in daily living, it will cure mankind of all its ills of every sort.