Article January 4, 1908 Issue

EXPANSION

DIANE KER SEYMER

When first interested in Christian Science I used to attend services in a small chapel which was used while First Church of Christ, Scientist, London, was being constructed on the adjoining plot of ground. Though this chapel was small, uncomfortable, and inconvenient in many ways, I grew very fond of it, and was quite unhappy when I heard it was to be pulled down, for my first faint understanding of Christian Science had been gained under its roof, and I thought regretfully that I never could be so happy in any other building.

On a foggy, cheerless morning, a few days before the opening of the new church, I obtained permission to look at the interior of this building. The testimony meeting the previous evening had been held in the smaller half of the church, a wall dividing it from the second part still in course of construction. During the night this wall had been entirely removed, and it seemed as though an almost miraculous change had taken place in that short space of time. A great wave of gratitude swept over me on beholding the wonderful transformation. Instead of the dismal little chapel I now beheld a vast white building, and in the misty half-light the lofty arched roof, the long white sculptured gallery circling the wide auditorium, the beautiful organ towering upwards,—all seemed to express everything that is steadfast, grand, and pure, and I knew that only the deep gratitude of the hundreds who have been healed and saved in London had made the building of this beautiful home possible.

From this little experience I realized more clearly than ever that everything coming to us through the growth of Christian Science must always be far beyond anything that our own limited thoughts have been able to outline beforehand, and instead of being satisfied with the small measure of content and satisfaction we have obtained in our past concepts, if we would only let go, and demolish them completely, as "thought expands into expression" (Science and Health, p. 255), the new, that we are opening the way for, will always be infinitely grander and more satisfying than we had thought possible, for surely "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

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