Page:Miscellaneous Writings.djvu/171

Rh other institution, at present is the cement of society, and it should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty. But the time cometh when the religious element, or Church of Christ, shall exist alone in the affections, and need no organization to express it. Till then, this form of godliness seems as requisite to manifest its spirit, as individuality to express Soul and substance.

Does a single bosom burn for fame and power? Then when that person shall possess these, let him ask himself, and answer to his name in this corner-stone of our temple: Am I greater for them? And if he thinks that he is, then is he less than man to whom God gave “dominion over all the earth,” less than the meek who “inherit the earth.” Even vanity forbids man to be vain; and pride is a hooded hawk which flies in darkness. Over a wounded sense of its own error, let not mortal thought resuscitate too soon.

In our rock-bound friendship, delicate as dear, our names may melt into one, and common dust, and their modest sign be nothingness. Be this as it may, the visible unity of spirit remains, to quicken even dust into sweet memorial such as Isaiah prophesied: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

When the hearts of Christian Scientists are woven together as are their names in the web of history, earth will float majestically heaven's heraldry, and echo the song of angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

To The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, and to the dear children that my heart folds within it, let me