Page:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany.djvu/57

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Five thousand people kneeling in silent communion; a stillness profound; and then, rising in unison from the vast congregation, the words of the Lord's Prayer! Such was the closing incident of the dedicatory services of the extension of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at the corner of Falmouth and Norway Streets, yesterday morning. And such was the scene repeated six times during the day.

It was a sight which no one who saw it will ever be able to forget. Many more gorgeous church pageantries have been seen in this country and in an older civilization; there have been church ceremonies that appealed more to the eye, but the impressiveness of this lay in its very simplicity; its grandeur sprang from the complete unanimity of thought and of purpose. There was something emanating from the thousands who worshipped under the dome of the great edifice whose formal opening they had gathered to observe, that appealed to and fired the imagination. A comparatively new religion launching upon a new era, assuming an altogether different status before the world!

Even the sun smiled kindly upon the dedication of the extension of The Mother Church. With a cooling breeze to temper the heat, the thousands who began to congregate about the church as early as half past five in the morning were able to wait patiently for the opening of the doors without suffering the inconveniences of an oppressive day. From that time, until the close of the evening service,