Page:Miscellaneous Writings.djvu/166

140 building were such as error could not control. I knew that to God's gift, foundation and superstructure, no one could hold a wholly material title. The land, and the church standing on it, must be conveyed through a type representing the true nature of the gift; a type morally and spiritually inalienable, but materially questionable — even after the manner that all spiritual good comes to Christian Scientists, to the end of taxing their faith in God, and their adherence to the superiority of the claims of Spirit over matter or merely legal titles.

No one could buy, sell, or mortgage my gift as I had it conveyed. Thus the case rested, and I supposed the trustee-deed was legal; but this was God's business, not mine. Our church was prospered by the right hand of His righteousness, and contributions to the Building Fund generously poured into the treasury. Unity prevailed, — till mortal man sought to know who owned God's temple, and adopted and urged only the material side of this question.

The lot of land which I donated I redeemed from under mortgage. The foundation on which our church was to be built had to be rescued from the grasp of legal power, and now it must be put back into the arms of Love, if we would not be found fighting against God.

The diviner claim and means for upbuilding the Church of Christ were prospered. Our title to God's acres will be safe and sound — when we can “read our title clear” to heavenly mansions. Built on the rock, our church will stand the storms of ages: though the material superstructure should crumble into dust, the fittest would survive — the spiritual idea would live, a perpetual type of the divine Principle it reflects.