Opening of Church Services at Norfolk, Va.

The new First Church of Christ, Scientist, was opened to the public for the first time on Sunday [May 4]. The church, which is the old edifice of the Second Presbyterian congregation, had been thoroughly cleaned and a number of alterations made. The auditorium has not been materially changed, with the exception of the rostrum, where two reading desks have replaced the single lectern which formerly stood there.

The opening of the new church was a source of gratification to the Christian Scientists of this city, marking, as it did, as most important step in the progress of their religious belief in this city. The first Christian Science service held in Norfolk was five years ago, when the meeting was held in the Public Library Building, and the congregation consisted of five persons. To-day the church has about forty members, and a congregation of about two hundred persons who are interested in the work of the denomination.

The services on Sunday, both morning and evening, were largely attended, many of the congregation attending a Christian Science service for the first time in their lives. There was a novelty in the service for these people. The two Readers seated on the rostrum was the first thing to attract attention, it being unusual to ordinary church-goers, to say the least.

The church had been beautifully decorated for the occasion with palms, ferns, pines, and cut and potted flowers, almost completely hiding the chancel. Miss Way, the First Reader, made an address of welcome.

Mr. Batts, the Second Reader, read a historical review of the growth of the Christian Science movement hereabouts, and the facts it contained were highly interesting.

The sermon consisted of passages read alternately from the Bible and the Christian Science text-book, by the two Readers.

The musical features of the programmes of the day were unusually attractive, the church having been fortunate in securing for the occasion Miss Clara Ella Bond, the leading soprano of Christ Episcopal Church and Ohef Sholom synagogue, this city, and Miss Mabelle L. Bond, the contralto soloist of First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City.

The morning and evening services were practically the same, and at each letters and telegrams from prominent Christian Scientists were read, one being from the church at Montreal, Canada; one from Concord, N. H. (Mrs. Eddy's home), and one from Mrs. Stetson, First Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City.

The rear of the church has been changed considerably. In the rear of the auditorium is a beautiful reading room, which has been handsomely fitted up, where can be found all the Christian Science literature, for inquirers. The reading room is free to all, and an entrance has been made from Boush Street so that it is easy of access.

Virginian-Pilot.

The First Reader's address was as follows:—

Beloved Brethren and Friends:—With deep and tender love on behalf of this First Church of Christ, Scientist, I bid you welcome. The Scriptures tell us to "Rejoice with them that do rejoice," and for this purpose we are assembled here. Some are here from other cities who have the keen and abiding satisfaction of worshiping the one omnipotent God, as Christian Science teaches, under their own vine and fig-tree; others come from other denominations who do not yet know what we are doing. We are glad for all to hear and see what we are doing and for all to learn also that our work is of God.

This church home is a manifestation of God's love to His trusting children. It represents the establishment, in this city, of the Science of Christ, or Scientific Christianity, as based on the teachings of Jesus and the Prophets with "signs following."

Divine Science, the Comforter which leadeth into all Truth, in this age of gross materialism is again fulfilling the words of Isaiah, "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified."

The Church of Christ, Scientist, is not a menace to any other church, nor to anything but to sin, sorrow, and discord. It has a message of love, peace, joy, and good-will to all who love Good—God. Its mission is to bring the earnest of Spirit to the churches and to the world. To purify thought, until mankind sees that God, divine Love, is an ever-present help.

It is not a new religion that we are presenting to the world, but the pure and simple Christ teachings of the Nazarene.

So in this age, as the spiritual, Christly, scientific teachings of Christian Science are understood, lived, and demonstrated, we see as never before the import of our blessed Master's glorious example. We see why the healing of the sick and reclaiming of the sinner followed his profound preaching. It was to give proof of his Christly nature by practice as well as precept; hence his commands to his disciples in Matthew, 10, "As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." And in John, 14, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."

Through the spiritual perception of the teachings of the Bible, our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has been able to give us a Key which, when read earnestly and honestly, will awaken thought to higher and purer conceptions of life, of God, and of man's relation to Him; thereby destroying the false sense which has been and is bringing sin, sickness, and death. It teaches us how to love, how to be better neighbors; and that the Golden Rule, "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," is the only one whereby we can learn to be honest, just, merciful, and meek. The way is strait and narrow which leadeth to perfection, but we know we shall reach it if we persistently turn away from our fears, jealousy, false pride, and all evil thinking, to our divine Principle, Life, Love, and Truth, as our ever-sustaining Guide.

We are all indeed grateful to our Mother in Israel, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, who has stood so bravely the persecutions, prejudices, and resentments of the world. We too can reach the higher heights, rejoice with her, and at last be worthy to be called Christian Scientists.

My heart also reaches out to all the dear ones who have so willingly sacrificed self, time, and money as to make it possible to-day to worship in this church. If you continue to be faithful, the blessings will continue to increase many fold until you can say, through demonstration, in the words of our text-book, "Divine Love always has met, and always will meet, every human need" (Science and Health, p. 494).

The Second Reader's address was as follows:—

Beloved Brethren and Friends:—Upon this happy occasion, the most important event which has yet occurred in connection with the Christian Science movement in Norfolk, it becomes my privilege to review the history of our local church. While such review must needs be brief and wanting in detail, giving at best but a faint idea of the vastness of the work already accomplished, yet the results, which I will show you, of five years of labor, silently testify to the power of God demonstrated, and are indicative of what may reasonably be expected in the future.

The first Christian Science service with which Norfolk was blessed, was held Sunday, January 5, 1897. This service was held in a small room in the Public Library Building, with a congregation of five persons. These limited quarters, however, soon proved insufficient, and in the following May an adjoining room was secured. These two rooms thereafter, until February, 1898, served the various purposes of the Scientists, when, because of the increase in the attendance upon the services, they were compelled to seek still more extensive accommodations. During the said month of February another room adjoining was procured, and an arch cut through the partition, thus making of two large rooms a commodious and comfortable hall, which was tastefully decorated and arranged to meet the demand. Here the work continued to grow, many battles being fought and won. The congregation, which numbered five at the first service held, had grown sufficiently, within a little more than a year, to occupy a hall capable of accommodating about one hundred people.

During the following April the church was organized. The congregations steadily increased in number, the sick and sinful continued to be healed, and the church continued its sturdy growth. Without entering into further detail, let me say that within a remarkably short period our hall was well filled at the Sunday morning services and Wednesday evening meetings, and it soon became apparent that it, too, would quickly be outgrown.

The time came, therefore, when the still further enlargement of our borders was necessary. When the subject of larger quarters was upon every tongue, and our hall was becoming more and more uncomfortable for want of room, and no other hall in the city, adapted to our purposes, could be procured, we were informed, through one of our members, that the congregation of the Second Presbyterian Church desired to sell to us their edifice, which is the one we open to you to-day as the home of First Church of Christ, Scientist.

Without following, step by step, the preliminary arrangements for the purchase of this property, allow me to say that while it seemed quite an undertaking for so small a church as we still were, there appeared to be no alternative, so that, within less than five years from the time the first service was held, with an attendance of five, a contract for the purchase of this valuable and attractive property was entered into. The building fund was then started with a donation by the Sunday School of fifty dollars, and by the first of January, 1902, sufficient funds had been raised to enable us to fulfil our engagement. A few days later, this edifice, together with the lot upon which it stands, and the organ, church furniture, etc., was transferred to the trustees of this church.

Since its acquisition by us we have erected in the rear a two-story brick building, the lower floor of which is to serve as a public reading room, and the upper floor as a study for the Readers and a reception room.

Viewed merely as the history of the material organization, this brief review presents nothing marvelous or out of the ordinary, perhaps; but when we look, through Christian Science, beyond the finite human sense, and catch, for an instant, the spiritual sense of God, of Christ, of man, of the universe, we begin to understand that the "things which are seen are temporal," and the "things which are not seen are eternal," so that our present organization, or the church which we now behold, is but the sign, or outward manifestation, of the yet unseen spiritual Church, and only foreshadows the great universal, triumphant Church of Christ. This is the Church that the Founder of Christian Science defines as "The Structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (Science and Health, p. 583).

Beholding, then, the church from a spiritual view-point, and considering that Christian Science is, perhaps, the most talked of—certainly the most scoffed at because the least understood—of all religious systems, the result of a little more than five years of endeavor to establish, in a material age, a Church which heals disease upon the basis of Spirit, represents much labor.

At the same time, however, we find ample cause for rejoicing, because of the evidence, once more presented to the world, of God's ability to furnish a table in the wilderness, and also of His willingness to prosper them who strive to serve Him. Again we hear the words of the Prophet: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room to receive it."

Let us rejoice therefore! let us sing glad praises to His holy name! But in the mean time let us not forget to be grateful to our Leader, our Mother, that pure, great, and good woman, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, whose loving heart beats alone for God and humanity, for you and for me. Let us not forget that it is through the wisdom of the Leader, through the love of the Mother, through the purity of the woman, that we have gained this exalted spiritual sense of God, which lifts from our shoulders the burdens of sin and sorrow and pain, and fills our hearts with the sunshine of His glorious Truth.

Work in Lansing, Mich.

April 21, 1897, a Christian Scientist made her first visit to Lansing in the interests of Christian Science, at the solicitation of one who had received marvelous healing. No one at that time was engaged in active work here. The Scientist came from a neighboring town two days in each week, until November 21 of the same year when the interest had increased to such an extent that a society was formed and services opened. February, 1899, the Scientist took up her residence in Lansing, devoting her whole time to the work. The following October two fellow-students came from Detroit to assist in the work, remaining until a year from the next May.

In January, 1899, a church was organized with fifteen charter members; we now have thirty-nine members with more to join us in June. The average attendance at the services has been between seventy-five and eighty. Our Sunday School numbers twenty-two. We have had three lectures, and are soon to have another.

Lansing is an institutional city, as well as the capital. Science and Health, "Retrospection and Introspection," and "Unity of Good" have been placed in the State Library. The Sunday School has presented Science and Health to the Michigan Agricultural College, and to the State Industrial School, also the Journal and Sentinel. Two copies of Science and Health are in the city library, which I understand are in constant demand.

A reading room was opened in June, 1901. It is now located in the finest business block in the city, and is doing excellent work. Over two hundred dollars worth of literature has been sold.

The work has had a steady and healthful growth from the first, Science and Health being the foundation, fully one hundred and fifty copies have been sold. There are now in the Field fourteen students, representing seven Associations, all good co-workers. A great sense of harmony exists in our church, which we are endeavoring to keep inviolate.

Services are held in the Matinee Musical Rooms, which are comfortable and pleasant. The work has not been all sunshine, neither have we rested on the mountain-top for long at a time. I well remember when fifteen constituted a big audience, and many times when there were but "two or three gathered together" at our Wednesday night meeting.

I feel sure that I but voice the feelings of the entire church when I express most loving gratitude to the dear Mother (words are inadequate) for all that she has given us. I am more and more impressed with the wonderful purity of our literature; nothing in the world to-day approximates it.—Mrs. Kate Holbrook Pierce.