Page:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany.djvu/73

Rh that strict and intelligent recognition of and obedience to the comprehensive means by you provided for the furtherance of our Cause, will result in its perpetuity as well as in the ultimate regeneration of its adherents and of mankind.

We are witnessing with joy and gratitude the significant events associated with this, one of the greatest and most important gatherings of Christian Scientists in the annals of our history. Yet the upwards of thirty thousand who are physically present at the dedication represent only a small part of the entire body who are of us and with us in the animus and spirit of our movement.

The great temple is finished! That which you have long prophetically seen has been accomplished. The magnificent edifice stands a fitting monument of your obedience and fidelity to the divine Principle revealed to you in that momentous hour when purblind mortal sense declared you to be in extremis. You followed unswervingly the guidance of Him who went before you by day in a pillar of cloud to lead you in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give you light, and the results of such following have been marvellous beyond human ken. As clearly as in retrospect we see the earlier leading, we now discern the fulfilment of the later prophecy, that “He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night,” for each advancing step has logically followed the preceding one.

The great temple is finished! This massive pile of New Hampshire granite and Bedford stone, rising to a height of two hundred and twenty-four feet, one foot loftier than the Bunker Hill monument, stands a material type of Truth's permanence. In solid foundation, in symmetrical